Atlas Insider
Atlas Insider: Like Things Together
I’ve mentioned a few times that we’re undergoing a big warehouse rearranging project to make both receiving and order-packing move along a little more quickly. And now I’m mentioning it again, so if you don’t wanna read more life-altering detail about that, you can just skip to the bottom and see how to sign up for the free mini-muffin basket or whatever the ladies are giving away this week!
I have an almost pathological obsession with organizing things using a “like things together” method. At home, that’s easy. Books go with other books in the library. (It should tell you everything you need to know about me that I bother to have a designated room that’s a library but have absolutely nowhere to put towels except in a corner on the floor. Visiting me is like visiting the world’s most spartan B&B. I just point with a flashlight and shout “The towels are on the floor. YOU WILL LIKE IT GOOD EVENING I SAID GOOD EVENING.”) The weedeater lives near the lawnmower somewhere down in that dark room with the well and the little poodle. Necessities in the pantry all live on the same shelf so that they’re easy to find if the lights go off or I get trapped in the back of the house avoiding a persistent Girl Scout at the door: olive oil, salt, gummy bears. Like. Things. Together.
In the Atlas warehouse, though … things get a little hairy. Worsted yarn goes near worsted yarn. Sock yarn goes with sock yarn. Seems simple, right? But the problem is a lot of things are similar to a lot of other things—or rather, each thing is similar to more than one other thing.
Does it make sense to put all worsted yarns together if they appear in, oh, six different Field Guides featuring designs from different people? Customers do tend to shop a specific Field Guide, so perhaps it makes more sense to put all of the yarns for a particular Field Guide near one another?
But wait: some people don’t use our Field Guides at all (seems crazy, but something something something, lid for every pot, I guess) and they literally just type BLUE YARN into the search box. Should we sort it that way? BLUE YARN NEAR BLUE YARN is suddenly in the mix.
We’re still fiddling. There are two of us on the warehouse side of things, and we don’t overlap often, so frequently one will come in to an all-new somethingorother system that makes perfect sense to, um, one of us but the explanatory note left behind might as well be written in Sumerian for the other.
I’m not completely intransigent! There’s a good argument for each of the ways and I certainly take them all into … ha ha, well, I thought I could type all that out with a straight face. But I cannot. There is only a good argument for the way I want to do it, but I pretend that I am listening to all the other arguments and then I just come in early the next day and move it all around and then act shocked. “Gosh, who did all that? But it does make absolute perfect sense … I never would have thought of it. Let’s try it out, I guess.”
In other words, I am gaslighting the heck out of everyone up in here. Whatever works.
A Giveaway
The prize? A mega mini-muffin basket … The Revolution Tray.
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.
Step 2: Is your blue yarn by the blue yarn? Let us know in the comments about your stash and paraphernalia organizing system … if any.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, March 6, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
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It started in bags by weight (or SQ) in a storage tub and then some of it took over the dresser in my guest room. That annoys my dad because he can’t have a drawer for the 2% of the year he sleeps in there, but the yarn will always win. I do keep all leftover fingering weight together for when inspiration strikes.
I have a very small stash, but large collection of yarn purchased intentionally for specific projects, so mine is mostly organized in bags by project. My little stash lives in a small basket.
Do you line the drawers or put in cedar balls or some other pest deterrent in them?
Tote bags and large bins and ziplocs, oh my! All of these comments make me want to do better about organizing. I’ve been doing more needlepoint & cross stitch lately, but I feel a little more motivated to enlist an armoire (full of calligraphy supplies) & a walk-in closet in a guest room upstairs for better organization of all my crafts. We’ll see what happens.
Organized, in the loosest sense of the word, by brand.
Yarn with needles and pattern in bag together waiting for next project
I do it by quality and fiber content. The better stuff stored all together in bedroom 2-priorities based on next project planned. Other lesser quality balls and remnants go in bedroom 3/different closet. I’ll soon need a bigger house.
Yarn by weight and then subcategoried alphabetically by company/dyer
By “pest” are you referring to her father?
Organized by weight except for non-wool like cotton which all lives by itself. I tried a brief stint at organizing by color which looked so pretty but was completely impractical. Needles organized by type: circs, dpn’s, straights, interchangeables.
LOL
My yarn is stored in a tall dresser . I started with claiming the bottom drawer… as needed claimed the next drawer up and so on so now this a complete dresser warehouse!! So looking at the drawers as a stack, the yarn is stored chronologically… first one, oldest, in on the bottom, newest, last one in at the top.
Current project stuff all together! Or, why I keep on re-buying circular needles…
LOL!!! Me too! Can never find the size I need due to the 14 containers of UFO’s with needles in them…
First by project then by weight/similar project type in the same bin. But I am constantly moving yarns to other projects or rearranging because I’ve decided to do something else with the yarn
All almost fits in a very tall armoire.
I use various ways of organizing. All the yarn and patterns from two knitting subscription programs (both now discontinued until I’ve run out of projects to do) are kept separately and as they came in. All dishcloth yarns together. All sock yarns together. Several super luxury yarns together. All odds and ends in a decorative glass jar. All weaving cones together. All remaining and most of above are at least in clear plastic boxes so I can glance at my two yarn filled book shelves when looking. Needles organized by type and sub organized by frequency of use. Whew!!
All of the hundreds card books in my house, including craft room, are organized by subject and then alphabetically by author ( former librarian here): crochet, knitting, sewing/quilting, and weaving are in craftcroom. Miscellaneous craft tools are in clear plastic shoeboxes or on display in vases. Loose patterns are in fat binders organized by type (shawls, socks, etc). Every year I go through much of my ‘stuff’ ( craft, books, paper files, clothes, kitchen items, etc) and do more downsizing. If I know I’m not going to use something I donate to the most appropriate place. I’m in my mid 70’s and I’m determined that when I ‘pass’ my children will not be faced with the absolute mess we have had to face with some of the ‘dear departed’ in the family. Plus as I age I find myself burdened by excess or idle, unused items.
No such thing as a “former librarian”!
I love your organization and would have loved to be a librarian and a book admirer I have binders with my patterns too and my collection as my fiancé calls it together! It just makes sense I too do a thorough going through of my stuff each year and donate things we don’t use when I am done it feels amazing!
I organize my yarn by weight. Half of it sits in a book shelf in bins, the other half in a walk in closet I huge zip lock bags marked by yarn weight.
I finally organized my stash by weight, and it has made all the difference! I’m not buying much yarn until I knit down my stash a bit, and there’s room again in a bin for more of that weight. I also like to keep an inventory on ravelry so that I can easily what yardage I have in a given weight. If I’be pulled yarn out and swatched for a project that doesn’t take off in a reasonable amount of time (or something else becomes more appealing), the yarn and swatch go back to safe storage in the bin of similar weight yarns (maybe with a note about the swatch!).
Yarn by weight or by project if that is what it was purchased for.
I have a 6 foot cabinet with shelves and 2 glass doors. I like separating yarns by fiber and colors. Especially my sock yarns. All kits are outside this cabinet and lined up in order of knitting! Have fun with all the colors!
There is no organization whatsoever. The bulk of yarn is in a cedar chest and some in storage bins in my craft room. At this point, I am more of a collector than creator! I do cull it every so often and donate.
This is almost how I do it. I guess it is very loosely based on weight. I’d love to do a better job but I haven’t yet after about 20 years of knitting. If the moths stay away, I’m happy.
Love this! I am not alone!
Woo Hoo!! My stash is in storage bags in bigger bags!! As you go through your stash, there are always “surprises”. You can then say,”Yes, this yarn is great for a project I want to start.”
First by fiber type (wool, alpaca, cotton etc) then by sorta by weight. My storage is bins so rearranging is always an adventure.
Projects are separate.
This is what I do. I should mention that the bins are large tubs, and most live in the upper shelf of a walk in closet. It’s a feat to get them down. The last couple tubs are in an armoire with UFOs. I try not to open the door as something will fall out.
By gauge from the ballband. That’s how all the stores I shop in are organized. Personal yarn storage is the “what shelf has room for this SQ of purple yarn”?
I use clear bins with labels and sort by: VIP yarns, mini skeins, by designer (if I have that much) and lastly by fiber type. I go through the bins at least once a year and I regularly re-home yarns I think I might not use.
General rule: by weight. But cones are together & sock yarn is separate from fingering yarn. Noro, Cascade 220 & alpaca, aside from lace wt, get their own containers.
Also “good yarn” which apparently means cashmere (even if not good cashmere) or cashmere blend are together, just as single skeins of worsted are together. Funny, when it comes to stash “separate” & “together” mean the same thing.
My husband built me a cedar closet for all the sweaters and shawls and throws that I have made. But I also use it to store my stash. Yarn is in storage bins, sort of by weight. Never by color. I keep my inventory list on a spreadsheet, one tab by yarn and one by project.
I haven’t gotten to the point of an inventory spreadsheet yet – the creative side of my brain overruled the accountant side on that. Or maybe I’d rather be knitting…
Yarn is organized in bins by weight, with lavender sachets for creepy-crawly repellent. Project (mostly sweaters) amounts are in project or ziplock bags with their intended pattern. Periodically, if a new pattern comes along, those projects get shuffled.
I too like organization. My spices are by the ab method. I tinker with rearranging hubby S garage and find my method changed each time. Maybe you need to sub catorgise or have stable ofcontent by each catorgy. Ie sock yarn as in field guide #.
Yarn that is not assigned to a pending or potential project is in bins, roughly by weight. Then there are bins of pending projects and bins of WIPs. (I have a short attention span). The whole collection is inventoried on a spreadsheet by brand, weight, quantity and color.
You sound like me. Spreadsheet is always behind reality.
Oh how I wish my stash would fit in a single dresser! Since I have 1 dresser, it has clothes in it! I have WIPs in bags, my queue is separate, the rest by weight.
I have 5 cabinets storing *most* of my yarn. A large Irish wicker laundry basket with single skeins of sock yarn for socks or Stephen West shawls! 2 plastic bins with “lesser stash”. And 15 project bags queued up and waiting
My large stash of yarn is sorted by colour in square pigeon holes. It looks so beautiful and encourages me to pull it out and fondle it and plan new projects as I go. Current projects are stored in colour coordinated project bags. Clearly I’m a blue with blue girl.
Your comments reminded of a great children’s picture book: My Blue is Happy by Jessica Young.
I have never color coordinated my yarn! It’s by dryer, weight, fiber content and project. Special consideration for special projects. However, as my buying has waned, I can’t believe I just typed that, I group by project first. That’s the latest thing. Buy only with a project in mind.
I buy only with a project in mind and then get captivated by many projects that often never get on the needles. So my stash grows and grows….
I organize my yarn in clear plastic bins by colors—blue yarns are together. I figured out that I don’t like knitting with worsted or bulky yarn. Fingerling weight comprises most of my stash. The bins are stacked on shelves in the basement. My projects are in baskets at home or in project bags if I take them on the road. My stash has shrunk during the pandemic because I have not been to any fiber festivals.
Sock yarn is kept together and sorted by color on 3 shelves. Cotton yarn is kept together and sorted by color on one shelf. Rowan felted tweed is together and sorted by color on one shelf. Stuff bought for projects are kept in their bags and on 2 shelves. Empty project bags are in a box sorted by size. Needles are in 2 according folders sorted by needle size. Circular interchangeable needle sets are in a box. Extra sundries are in a box. Then there are bins of same weights of worsted yarns. And a bin with projects in the penalty box. These are in a time out for various reasons.
Me too!! and it works real well.
I love the idea of a penalty/ time out box!
I have many WIP sweaters stuck on sleeve island, which is not a physical place.
All my sock yarn is in the top 2 drawers of a dresser. The rest…. good luck finding the exact yarn I’m looking for without gong through many boxes and containers!
I realized I had no really intense blue yarn this winter, so I spun up a pound of merino-sea cell and dyed it with Cushing dyes: Copenhagen Blue, and simply Blue,
Blue really sings!!! It’s almost electric!
It is on my needles now. And I just received MDK’s Refresh to inspire a knit up of the remaining blue.
Storage of yarns is in clear plastic bins in a fiber devoted closet, admittedly a bit crowded by weaving and spinning tools.
Meant to add yarns are stored by fiber type: lace, fingering, worsted, bulky, etc.
I use clear bins labeled by fiber content.
I am in the midst of setting up my very own Knit Nook in a tiny spare bedroom. My intent was to buy clear rolling bins and organize the stash under the bed. I bought 3 bins and labelled them wool, cotton and acrylic. So far so good. Sadly, the stash could not be contained to 3 bins. I ended up with 5 more large clear bins stacked next to the door. At least they are all in one room, and I can see what is in them. I truly have a stash beyond life expectancy. My husband can’t understand why I continue to browse for yarn…lol
My yarn is shelved by weight and then (as best I can) by color. After about 4 years of storage bins, I bought two Ikea bookcases with doors, so the beauty is on display. Makes a great Zoom background these days too.
A few years ago we had a whole wall of cubbies made. It started with lace to the far right, then fingering, sport and on to worsted. That’s about as heavy as I knit.
Then one day I thought, self, you need to put your most beautiful sock yarn front and center, and I moved it to the middle. Then my most cherished handspun went next to it. Chaos has ensued.
I wish I was as organized as some other people! I have my yarn in cubbies in my craft room. Project quantities are all in ziplock bags with the project name in the bag. Other yarns are just in cubbies. Have to work on that one day!
I’m also a very ( over) organized person my yarn stash is separated by weight and/or fiber content worsted, lace,sock but also cotton, felting wool etc all very neatly stored in bins and labeled. Yes sometimes I can’t find what I’m looking for anyway.
It doesn’t matter how you organize it as long as your picklists print in the same order. So if you put blue yarn in row 1, shelf 1, and red yarn in row 5, shelf 5, make sure if someone orders blue yarn, that prints first on the picklist. This logic was implemented in a warehouse I worked in and boy did it speed things up.
Yeah, this is still the over-arching system – just go in the order of the picklist – but it’s a big warehouse, so the impulse is to put the more popular things that are likely to sell together closer to the packing area to save steps. It’s constantly evolving because while shopping patterns are fairly predictable (sorry, y’all!), they’re not *100%* predictable and there’s always one outlying leftover Christmas Ornament we have to take a hike to another ZIP code for.
As for my own stash, it’s in clear plastic bins by project, stored in an empty room in the finished basement on metal shelving. I do much better if I only buy yarn for an assigned project. Yarn that has no project in mind tends to cause anxiety (but not the 50 unknit projects – go figure!).
Yarn by weight is the only way, obvs.
Except for all the other ways.
I love your philosophy! 😉
Based on the other comments here, I am well behind most of our community in the size of my yarn pantry! It basically fits in a tall bookcase (well maybe there is one bin!) with yarn sorted mostly by color and by fiber type, books / paper patterns together, and needles and notions together (some of which get mixed into smaller travel / project bags that seem to accumulate and from time-to-time need to be resorted to their home base).
By weight, each yarn in separate plastic bag, then all the same weight go into one big plastic bag labeled with the weight, in bins.
I organize first by weight – then by fiber. I zip most of it up in zip-lock bags with cedar disks and store it in clear storage tubs in our basement for easy access. I do keep some yarn out in my knitting zone in our living room and just around the house as inspiration and to remind my family of the incredible importance of yarn! My brain is happier if I have lots of vivid color and yarn around to inspire me.
Musical chairs for yarn. Project yarn stays together until another project moves to the front and the other becomes stash. Stash is by yarn weight. My needles and other tools are way more organized.
You still have Girl Scouts coming to your door??
Purchased yarn is kept in one flat plastic bin underneath the bed-various weights are in the bin. Mill spun yarn from my sheep (who are now someone else’s sheep) is kept in plastic bags according to weight and stacked on a chair in my guest room so I can keep track of what I’ve given away and what I’m holding onto for future projects.
No real system, but it does tend to be by purchase. Clear bins help, plus then I get to see the gorgeous colors !
All yarn except WIPs is in plastic bins sorted mostly by weight. I separated sock yarn from other fingering so I wouldn’t knit any more socks that wear out after one winter. Cashmere blends are together, potential projects are in a bin, sometimes along with the pattern, and sweater quantities have their own bin. The bins are on shelves in a small walk-in closet in my office/knitting/sewing room. My entire stash is on Ravelry. Yarn that is for sale is in plastic project bags and more bins.
My too-large stash is pretty much organized by yarn weight. Sometimes within the weight class, I have subsets of fiber type, separating out linen and cotton from mostly wool. I also have other subsets like all the Rowan Felted Tweed leftover from Kaffe Fassett projects, and all the Shetland wool full skeins and leftovers.
yes, I have all my wool yarn sorted by color. It does make it easier for some reason.
Ummm people organize their stash???? Very interesting. Never thought about it that way#freeyarnspirit
I’m in awe reading how organized others are with their stashes! Mine is not, alas. It’s on one shelf in my bedroom and under the bed in plastic bins. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love it.
Yarn bought for specific project gets stored in a plastic bag with the pattern. All of those bags are on the floor of the guest room. All other yarn in plastic bags in bins in the family room and basement.
My yarn and supplies mostly fit into an armoire. Yarn arranged by weight in the drawers, books and paraphernalia on the shelves, circular needles hanging on the door knobs adding a bit of excitement to the act of accessing the stash. Works in progress are in project bags, which are in baskets. Nothing to see there!
I stash first by weight, then by color within that weight. But I keep kits together!
On a bookshelf! (Books have their own shelf). I use bins and baskets and generally sort by weight and then color. Scraps and small leftover balls are thrown higgledy piggledy into a glass pitcher where they look decorative. Horrible stuff given to me by well meaning people (acrylic! Super bulkie in orange!) hide in a large plastic tote until some school is looking for art supplies.
Yarn is stored by weight in large IKEA storage bins on casters. They’re all full, so overflow is randomly stashed in the craft room closet…causing much anxiety.
Like colors together, wound into cakes, hanging on pegboard panels. There’s nothing too precious so I don’t take pest precautions (other than shooing away my toddler). It’s so beautiful to look at!!
My yarn is sorted by weight, thereby making it “easier” to shop in my own supplies when I want to start a new project. HAHAHAHAHA who am I kidding????
My “organization” is such that before I go into my stash room I notify someone in case I am buried beneath an avalanche of yarn. Hopefully someone will come rescue me if they do not hear from me for 24 hours.
ROFL!
Well, it’s in a dresser, by weight, sock and lace in the top drawer, then more sock, and some Dk in the next, on down to worsted. Then the chunky is in a bin in the closet, and the rug yarn is in a big box on the closet shelf. Not my fav way to organize it, but I have the stash and their locations on a spreadsheet. (Can you tell I was a librarian?) Since we order yarn by name first, and then weight and color, why not do the warehouse the same way? (Atlas would be first!)
In a cedar chest, bags boxes and clear bins one day, to be organized, hopefully.
I generally store sock yarn with sock yarn, lace yarn with lace yarn, and then I will put silk yarn and linen yarn in separate spaces. When I purchase a yarn for a particular pattern, I store the pattern with the yarn.
My yarns are separated by type first, then by color or by project. Rarely do I have to hunt for something.
I did a massive reorganization of my stash, and sorted by weight. Kind of. There are weight bins, then a “here’s a giant bin of projects all ready to start,” and a couple of “here are a couple of bins of old yarn that I can’t figure out what to do with.” And those bins are still neatly put away. But now I also have shopping bags of yarn that are theoretically waiting to be dutifully sorted into their proper bin…except the bins are so crammed full of yarn that the new yarn won’t fit. So I should probably buy more storage containers, except I’m too busy buying new yarn or knitting existing yarn to do that.
I organize by weight and fiber. Upcoming projects I wind and put in a project bag with the pattern and needles. I have my yarn in shoebox size plastic bins stacked in an armoire, plus a plastic drawer unit in there. Plus yarn on top of the armoire in a decorative bin.
My yarn organization begins with a collection of clear bins of 10+ different sizes—tiny to huge. Each bin is labeled with an inventory code. It’s the code that makes the organization super flexible. In bins A.01 to A.08 there might be DK yarns sorted by color. In my master inventory I list the bin code and then it’s contents. Bins B.01 to Bin B.4 might each hold just one type of Rowan yarn. Bins P.01 to P.12 hold one project each. When I change the contents of a bin, I just update the master inventory. So I’m not re-organizing physically often: I’m just updating a spreadsheet that I can sort by any feature I want to know: weight, # skeins, color, fiber. I’ve used this system professionally to track much, much bigger collections of diverse things w/multiple characteristics. Now I have a large studio & yarn isn’t all I have to track so the spreadsheet is worth maintaining. This system isn’t so much about “sorting” as it is about “finding”.
WOW!
By likelihood of actual use! Most likely to be used goes on top; just nice to look at/too attached to give away or sell goes on the bottom. Works like a charm
Well-ell, since you asked….my yarn is organized by weight. And within that tote, by color. Kind of because, you know…multi colors. But then there’s a special place for intended sock yarn and summer fibers. Immediately planned projects, WIPS, tools, and buttons. All have their place. And I love getting in there and rearranging, as the notion hits.
Organization? None. Nada. Zero. Zip. Bags only. Thanks for this – I loved it.
kit, then weight, but I get the thrill of a new organizing principle!.
Yarn is sorted in big bins based on where it was stored in our previous house. It’s the only way I can find anything.
My stash is organized by yarn type, wool, cotton, linen, sock, novelty, etc. there’s a drawer for each and then some extras here and there.
I sort by weight, mostly. Most of my stash is in bins in the garage, the rest in the guest room closet—my guests are expected to park light.
By weight … sort of. Like stuff in the fridge that I never want to see go to waste, I’m always looking for ways to use stash (mostly leftovers from other projects) so my collection is not large and I fumble through it regularly.
My stash is generally organized by fiber content and then by weight. Everything (including designated project yarn) is stored in Container Store plastic and canvas sweater bags for air circulation and to keep any errant moths out. The bags are stored on shelves along with containers of needles and accessories. Things still get out of hand sometimes…I’m way overdue for a session of de-stashing and donating.
Organize?
I live in my yarn’s house.
There are bins with “the pink yarn “ but there are also bins with all sock yarn.It makes sense to me, kind of.
‘I live in my yarn’s house’ hahaha!
I organize by color not yarn weight. That might not make sense but the
organization by color make visual harmony for me.
I have yarns sorted by weight in separate bins (maybe 48 but who is counting and needles are kept with brands in their own bins. My collection of knitting bowls live on various shelves looking all pretty
Mine is organized, generally, by how much I love it, then by Field Guide/project when there is a specific project in mind. Entire separate sections for Nua Sport, Neighborhood Fiber Co, Felted Tweed, Chasing Rabbits Fibers (now Barker Wool), Camellia Fiber Co, Dream in Color, and McMullin Fiber Co. Coming soon: ATLAS, woo hoo! WIPs are in project bags (aka my attempt to fill all the project bags . . . )
And lavender sachet bags all around.
Bins everywhere!!! All sorted by weight then fiber content.
Most of it is sorted by weight, but yarn that is for specific projects is kept in separate bags. But from pics I’ve seen, I still have a very small stash…for now.
My yarns are all in zip loc bags usually by brand/manufacturer (as I tend to buy in multiples) and then by colour/weight/type. These Ziploc bags are organized in Ikea fabric organizer bins which are then organized inside the white Ikea Stuva storage cabinets. I also keep a small stash or spinning fibre in one section and weaving cones in another bin.
Yarn stash is Organized by weight, inventoried in numbered moth proof bins-specific yarn notes on inventory may contain comments indicating yarn snobbery!
Alas, all my yarn is in a giant armoire, with no organization whatsoever!
What doesn’t fit in the armoire is in two cedar chests!
Oh, and my overflow yarn is in my linen closet. Yarn for projects is in plastic bags with the patterns.
My stash is organized primarily in stackable cedar shoe racks. One stack for fingering, one stack for sport and DK, one stack for worsted and Aran. Within each stack, yarns are grouped first by fiber then by color. (So, for example, sport-weight linen has a shelf separate from sport-weight merino. Then, because blues and greens are a favorite, one shelf has blue sport-weight merino on the left, green sport-weight merino on the right.) Color can be solid, semisolid, or the base color of a relatively tame speckle.
Yarns too exuberant to categorize this way have their own drawers. These are shallow drawers that sometimes fit bookcases. Exuberant dyers I like seem to have their own style and palette so each gets their own drawer or set of drawers. Koigu KPPPM is in shallow drawers in the philosophy section of my library; fingering weight yarn from a local Indie dyer has drawer space in the yoga anatomy section, worsted-weight yarn from the same local dyer another drawer in the same section.
My yarn stash lives in plastic tubs organized by weight – until I get an idea. Then all rules are off and it’s spread out in a bed based on colors.
I sort by weight in a few bins and then I have a bin for wips and one for projects with the yarn matching
I’m not exactly sure of the definition of “organizing system.” I keep yarn the way my mother kept books and some folk keep bandaids, matches/candles or other emergency supplies: always close at hand. So there is the main emergency cache in the room that was once a bedroom and is now the craft room (husband is currently taking up a bit of space since he is doing a class on mosaics). Otherwise, there’s a project with appropriate supplies (and alternate yarns and needles available in case my mood changes) in the bedroom, in the library, in the family room, in my car, in my office at work (silver lining for zoom meetings you don’t happen to be leading — knitting below the screen keeps you awake and interested!). Sometimes I think I should try organizing, but since I’m very probably past the half way point of my life, I don’t think that particular trick is one I want to spend time on.
This reminds me that I need to update my emergency project bags! I have one or two around, but I should have more. My stash is somewhat organized by weight, but I like keeping a few projects around with all supplies ready.
Yep that was my post too but I did not think about the half way point. I really have thought I should get organized but I do after searching find the thing i am looking for. Needle, that skein I know I bought at such and such yarn store.For I long time i thought if I bought yarn for a project (say 10 yrs ago) it had to grow up to be that. Some of my yarn was like teenagers, it does not want to be what I wanted it to be. so it is something else when I find it again.
I have the only system that works in my kingdom! (Yes, I am the only one using the system.) I have things separated by yarn weight. And (of course) my fingering weight yarn is further separated by sock-appropriate yarn vs not. And I keep the leftovers separated that way too. (Heaven forbid I make a gnome that is only half machine washable!)
Lol, my yarn is organised by age, weight and potential project, but definitely not by colour, that would be weird. I do keep my circular needles organised by size, but that makes logical sense. I can’t help you with the yarn though, sorry.
Ahem..cough..well at least my yarn is by my yarn. Well except for that yarn that isnt…
Various capacity tubs by fiber (cotton/linen, wool blend….), weight, and intent (holiday, charity, shower gift..,,). We converted a closet to shelves in the desk room, and the tubs fit on the bottom two.
My yarn is stored in an armoire, a chest of drawers and many, many plastic tubs, some of which are stacked and covered with linen French Postal bags and disguised as bed side tables. I try to keep all multiple skeins of the same yarn together, not always successfully. However, my library of knitting books and magazines and single patterns is meticulously organized.
My stash started out in a canvas bin which gradually spilled over to the shelves in my studio which took over the cupboard at the end of the room. It is mostly sorted by project although I don’t remember specifically what I had in mind for some of them.
Clear plastic bins on an open bookshelf by weight although a few bins are labeled by potential project.
When designing a kep, I enjoyed organizing my three blues and three sand colors in a smaller bin that accommodated them to line up on end.
Photos and notes on Ramberstranda Kep named for a beach in Norway.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/heyKerrianne/rambergstranda-kep–mhk-l3-fair-isle
I am, for the most part, a project knitter so I store yarn by project. However, I am also a handspinner so I have a storage tub of handspun and another of random yarns that I have collected because after holding them in my hands I could not put them down. Within those two tubs I have the yarns divided by weight.
And therein lies the problem. I have my stash (enough to open a small yarn store) organized by color, except for the bins sorted by weight. In the pandemic I created a spreadsheet with all the facts for each skein including where it’s stored. I hope I love to 158 to make a dent in inventory.
I would love to actually finish my spreadsheet. I started it when I moved and then I bought more yarn, KALs during the pandemic (1 is finished), yarn stores (Hello support your local LYS) and my lovely husband (if you are going to stand here holding that you may as well buy it) has made the list slightly outdated. I too can open a yarn store w/ a side of tea (I have more then even our local tea store)
Sort by weight and fiber in large plastic bins. Would love something more elegant!
I have my stash sorted by weight because I tend to decide to do specific patterns, not decide that I want a blue sweater. I also do some test knitting so sorting by weight makes sense for that. An otherwise lovely LYS here has the entire shop sorted by color. It makes me crazy. I shop by weight, then fiber, then color. This does not work out well there. The only saving grace is that everyone who works there knows their inventory quite well so I can show them my pattern and tell them my fiber preference for that pattern and they immediately start pointing out all the yarns that meet my criteria. To be fair, I live in a heavy tourist area and the displays are very eye catching organized that way.
I am in the process of matching yarn and pattern (called kitting my yarn?). The rest will be by type weight and fiber) because I am more likely to mix colors than yarn types in a project. However, I don’t always buy with just one project in mind, so your warehouse should have different rules (yours!).
In my most organized places, yarn is stored by intended project with pattern. And then there’s drawers of random souvenir yarn loosely organized by weight.
My yarn somewhat organized… in clear containers , with some by company , some by weight , sweater lots and one with weaving yarns.
Happy Knitting.
And I thought I was OCD for putting frozen vegetables in the alphabetical order in the freezer. Like things together—sorted properly.
I have two storage bins for yarn: recently bought yarn that I’m excited about and yarn from years ago that I often forget about, and then am thrilled to rediscover. If my stash gets bigger I will need to implement a better system but for now it’s working.
I store in 3 plastic bins and 4 zippered sweater bins.I take it all out every now and then to try and organize/ remember what is there! This year I gave away a mesh laundry bag full of yarn to my 16 yr old granddaughter who has learned to crochet last summer. She has been playing in my yarn since she learned to walk.I taught her to knit at probably 5 yrs old . But she tells me now she has forgotten how since taking up crochet! And of course having an empty bin meant I had to order the blanket of joy kit to refill it! I am doing good to keep all the like skeins together! So I know if I have enough for a project!
Yarns for current and pending projects are in tote bags. Everything else is stored in plastic bins with lots of moth repellent.
My yarn is in zip lock bags in plastic totes. I like the spread sheet idea and may work on that. My sewing knitting ECT space is in a state of flux as we reorganize parts of our house. When moving my bins recently my husband remarked that I seemed to have a lot of yarn – made me laugh.
In your case I would keep all the yarn from each “brand” together and go from there. Except may the yarn featured in the most recent field guide which could be grabbed most easily.
I did a massive reorganize this last Fall. Yarn is sorted by approximate weight with some exceptions. Hand spun is all together, felted tweed has its own bag, as does lopi and Jaminson. The weaving yarn is also sorted separately and all stored in bins on my craft room.
I have a unit that consists of plastic cubbies that snap together and stack with opaque plastic doors. Lots of room! One is labeled “bits, bobs, and ballbands”, one holds plant-based fibers, one has souvenir skeins, one holds minis. A cubby for books & magazines. One for blocking mats, pins, scale, and swift and ball winder. 2 cubbies have UFOs! Then there’s yarn for projects I haven’t started yet, 3 WIPs are in project bags in the living room. And, at least half my stash is still packed in various boxes that I haven’t unpacked yet from moving here almost 2 years ago!! Don’t worry, I still have empty cubbies in my storage unit;)
My yarn room is lovingly referred to by my family as the She Shed which does look like a small yarn shop. I have it sorted by weight but I also have a few bins that hold projects only.
I received my sample card for Atlas. The yarn feels really good. Congrats!
I have 3or 4 ways of sorting. I need to just pick one! I’m thinking put the pattern and yarn together.
Well I keep intending to put the yarn in order by weight and the knitting books, magazines on the shelf oh and the tools and needles all in one basket oh again and the WIP/UFOs all together but what happens is that somethings are on or by the couch, some are in my work office because ZOOM and some are by the bed and some are actually in the knitting storage place. I NEED A SIZE 7 NEEDLE!!! WHERE ARE THEY? so that tells you everything abut me. A basket may help
Such an interesting topic! I tend to store my yarns by fiber, then weight. I used to sort by color, but that really wasn’t as useful. I do a lot of felting, so it’s really easier to just go to the bins containing my wool yarns.
I didn’t know we were supposed to organize our stash. Are you trying to mess with me here? 😉 Seriously, I do have two walls of cubbies with those canvas totes and those are organized by brand or where I bought them. I have large book shelf full of books and my extensive Vogue Knitting magazine and book collection. Behind there is where the treasures hide. I have stacks of small totes full of yarns. It’s like going on a cave adventure when I go behind there to look for yarns. We have a Cape Cod style log home so all the corners where only gnomes can go in the loft are full of yarns. Hey, they add insulation. My husband has a pole barn – I have the loft and the basement.
By weight, but fingering is split into good for socks and other fingering, and I need a new bin because my heavier weight skeins are multiplying. Roving is by weight of bump, from 4 oz to sweater quantity. All packed with pennyroyal balls as critter repellent.
Do you have room to split things? So half a shipment of worsted gets shelved with worsted, and the other half goes with the associated field guide?
And BTW, all the houses I grew up I in had full room libraries. I wish I had room now…..
I think about “families.” “Which family does this belong to? Oh, the cat supply family, or the sweater-making family, etc.”. Works well for me.
I store my yarn by project, except for fingering weight yarn, which I store together.
Mostly by yarn weight, although whatever is newest or I think I might have an actual, rather than theoretical, project in mind for tends to be out and about where I can see it. It tends to be stashed around the house in various storage containers, so the organization akin to an archeological dig.
I love it Archeological dig. I will tell my husband. He is color blind so no assistance in finding the yarn I have misplaced though
I have my own kits made up and ready to start and they’re on display in my guest room/office/yarn room. The rest of my stash is organized by yarn weight and stored in pretty cardboard trunks in that room’s closet. (Guests get an over the door hook for their clothes as the closet is full of yarn).
Keep it simple, it’s a lifestyle, not an event
By color, in 18 gallon rubbermaid bins, with labels. 2 brown 2 cream 1 grey/black, 1 yellow, 1 purple pink, 1 blue 1 green 1 red 1 orange. But also 1 Shetland 1 sock 1 finished sweaters 1 spinning fiber, 1 sock yarn.
No system. Just stuffed in closet. Should organize but too busy knitting.
I confess, organizing the yarn is an obsession of mine. Wool yarns have separate bins by weight (lace, sock, etc.). Except Felted Tweed has its own bin. Other fibers or blends have a single bin. Sock yarn remnants are organized by color into smaller bins for ease of perusal for small projects. Don’t judge!
My yarn is sorted by content first and color second. I knit a lot of felted clogs so all the worsted wool is together sorted by color. Then I guess my plan falls apart since the rest of my yarn is sorted by content. Sock yarn together, cotton together, planned projects in another spot, scrubby yarn in another place and on and in. Did I mention I have a big stash! And here I was so proud of my yarn organization!
My yarn weights are separated by color but also by company.
For instance, blue worsted by company A is here. Blue worsted yarn by company B, is here etc.
It’s how I do it because I have a bit of this disorder as well.
We’d be full fledged disorder buddies except I cannot understand why gummy bears would be next to olive oil.
Sock yarn is with sock yarn, all cotton yarn together, worsted with worsted, except for wool which is ziplocked in baggies, of course there is the cotton sock yarn issue…….
If not yet identified for a specific project the yarn is stored in a tall cabinet and organized by weight. If part of a project it is stored with the pattern in a see-through project bag in a hanging sweater organizer in a spare closet.
Yarn is organized by weight in plastic bins on shelves in the “studio.” Unless there is a specific project planned – then it goes in a zippered plastic on the shelves. There is an assortment of baskets with recently acquired skeins, or yarn that is being auditioned for a project. No rhyme or reason there.
TUBS..What would I do without Tubs. They help organize and keep yarn safe from the elements.
Like with like…unless there’s not enough room, or not enough of that kind, or.. ..for God’s sake just put it where there’s room!
My yarn stash is sorted in plastic bins (think shoe sized) by project.
Just took over my daughters room for my studio. Purchased a cube with pull out bins. The plan is to organize by weight. One bin for WIPS- packed to brim, one for notions and interchangeable sets. Closet shelves with bins… for weaving, pot holder loom, Addi king,… notebooks full of patterns( before iPad ) and needles – lots of needles
I continue to debate whether to organize my stash by weight or by color. Currently organized by weight but I may shift to color
Sweater quantities together, by indie dyer if I have a lot of theirs.
Sorted by weight of yarn, in clear bins with labels.
Well I have tried organizing my yarn, I did get all the worsted weight acrylic (mostly leftovers, large amounts of leftovers) sorted out loosely by color and into bins in the same two 3X3 cubicles that hold my knitting books but the rest of the yarn is still a daunting work in progress (currently be ignored but all in other bins in other 3X3 cubicles).
In a cedar chest, organized by yarn weight, with a printed pattern if I bought it with a project in mind…it could be awhile before I get around to using it, since I buy yarn faster than I knit!!
My stash is sorted by weight and fiber content, however it does get mixed up at times!!
Yarn in heaped in a family heirloom cradle, not in use so up for grabs. It had been organized by color, but the past years have seen it only piled on top of haphazardly.
I mostly organize by weight in bins or projects, first in bags then in bins. I am trying to be more intentional in purchasing only for a specific project. I was hoping to not buy any yarn this year until our local yarn crawl at the end of July. However, I check each day to make sure there are kits available for the Blanket of Joy. I am not sure how much longer I will resist.
When it comes to yarn, I organize aspirationally, ie vauguely by dreams of future projects.
until recently ALL my yarn (at least those skeins, balls, twists I could find at the time) were on shelves in a closet, willy-nilly. Then a I got a little bit organizy, and put most of them into felted open boxes from IKEA, sorted by color. But with only five boxes, there was a lot of leeway on color decisions. Now they are sorted by weight (sort of), in the IKEA boxes (I got a few more), and in two cabinets in the room where we watch tv, and I have a work desk. Oh, but there are still some in the closet (mega huge roving skeins) that are slowly becoming a finger knit blanket. Oh, yeah. And a really big basket at the end of the hallway to the guest bedroom, with some recent purchases, for as yet to be identified projects. So, NO/YES, the blue is with the blue.
First by project and then by “jumble”! Love the jumble!
I guess I organize by project. Sort of. The comments have me rethinking my non-organization method!
My yarn is organized by brand in plastic bins
Organized very loosely by color.
oh, I do like that tray!!
My yarn is kept primarily by weight & type. Others are kept by type of project, such as “good toy making”. Then there are those assortments of “projects to do that are already sorted w/ the yarn, pattern, possibly already on the needles (no confession to how long for some…)
This is close to my system/non-system. No judgement from me on timelines… or on quantity…
Definitely by weight. Went into a shop organized by color once and my stress was palpable.
First by material: cottons together, nonsuperwash wools, superwash wools, etc. then by weight. All skeins of the same yarn and color bagged together.
My stash is by weight, sub by dyer, sub by color.
My system is stuff the yarn in any space large enough to hold it. Most is in large plastic storage tubs, medium storage tubs, covered baskets, zip-loc bags; you get the idea. It is mostly segregated by weight, though.
What’s the fun in having it organized? You miss out on the thrill of the hunt not to mention the joy of finding a fabulous yarn from 20 years ago. I do have all my eyelash and ribbon together; it’s about time they came back in vogue.
I use plastic locking tubs and sort yarn by type/weight or by project. I know where it is, but I pity anyone else looking for anything! LOL!
My stash is a combination of sorted by color and by fiber. I have the colors sorted by warm and cool colors. All cotton yarn lives separately in a tote bag
It’s the ballband dishcloth go-to kit.
Mostly stored by weight, but also by fiber content. Projects that are “good to go” are stored separately.
so intimidated with all of you who have spreadsheets and bins and rooms and closets…my mini stash is by project – other residents of my stash are by weight and color…maybe someday I’ll have a room or a dresser or cubbies – a girl can dream right??
I. try to group my yarn by weight, but then I change it and group it by color. It’s a crazy yarn world. Wish I knew what really is the best way!
I stash my yarns by project. When I need to start another UFO I can find all the choices of yarn in one spot.
I try to organize mostly by weight but I also keep some yarn together with its pattern and sometimes I get overwhelmed and just stick random yarn into a cedar chest or bin
Physically I organize by weight in bins and bags under the bed. But I do have almost all of my stash cataloged on Ravelry too so I can peruse the collection there if I want to.
I organize my yarn by weight and then by fiber content so that when I want say a cotton blend fingering weight I know where to find it without digging through all my storage tubs and getting distracted.
have them in bags or boxes stored in a closet, not by brand, not by weight and not by color. I try to put the pattern with each bag/box if I buy yarn for a specific pattern. And I love opening all the different bags and see what I have its like Christmas.
Yarn for a specific project is in individual bags, all bags together. Unassigned yarn is grouped by weight.
Some on a bookshelf with lavender sachets, some, if not likely to be used for a good long time, in clear plastic bags. All stored by weight.
No organisation, just all mixed up in a bin…
No organization at all, although it sounds like a great idea!
I have yarn. I have bins. I have yarn in bins. I try to put “bought to make a sweater” in 1 bin and “miscellany” in the other 5 but it gets messed up. Maybe I should try someone else’s method?
My organizational skills are in direct contrast to the author’s! My yarn boxes are filled with my purchases in chronological order. ……no assortment by weight, color, composition or intended use. The containers are see through and I spend hours staring at the panoply of rainbows!
Clear bins in the guest room closet. Newer yarn purchases get put on a shelf by the bins. Clearly not really organized
OMG. I have all the same questions when trying to organize my own little stash! When you figure it out, let me know so I can once and for all organize my own massive mess!
The only thing I do with my stash is hide it from my husband in various places in the house.
I have 2 dresser drawers for ‘designated project’ yarn. This yarn is in bags with the pattern I intend to use. The rest of my stash is in bins in the storage room sorted by weight. Every once in a while I throw the contents of a bin on the floor to see what I have.
Stash in plastic chests of drawers, organized by weight, with separate drawers of each weight’s leftovers. Except for when I run out of room, mis-store something, planning on coming back “ when I have time” to rearrange. Ha!
Yarn is stored by weight in large IKEA storage bins on casters, making them easy to move around if necessary. They’re all full, so overflow is randomly stashed in the craft room closet…causing much anxiety.
I have two large-ish totes – one for sock yarn and for not sock yarn.
It’s organized by color families, each in a basket (or two). There is also a large suitcase filled with the undyed wools. Alas, I could use a better system, but nothing better comes to mind—yet.
Some of you actually seem to have so little yarn it will fit in a drawer! Most of mine (there’s a lot. A huge lot) is in a storage unit, since we moved three times and across the country last year. This means I sometimes have to (cough) buy more yarn for immediate projects. Most of it is in plastic storage bins, but some got shoved in cardboard boxes for the move. It’s all by project, except for the sock yarn, which is in a container of its own. There’s some yarn at the house (who am I kidding? It’s what I thought I might go through in a year) in two large moving boxes, plus the immediate stuff (probably four sweaters’ worth) in my closet.
Mine is arranged by weight with exceptions: all linen/cotton yarn is stored together and all cashmere yarn is stored together. The rest is sorted by fingering; sport; DK and worsted; bulky. Right now I am perilously low on sweater quantities! Must remedy soon.
Yarn; it’s everywhere. Every time I have a dedicated space, I lose it because someone else must have that space more than me. So it piles up everywhere and I just end up buying more when I can’t find the skeins that I know are there somewhere.
Sorry to say, but I have none. I have one bin that is mainly fingering weight, and I know generally where everything can be found. I don’t like to take away time from my knitting to get well organized when it pretty much works as it is.
I leave yarn where I know I’ll remember to look for it when I need it. But then I don’t. So I am forced to buy more. That’s how you build a stash. A big stash. Actually a huge stash…
Just a few categories for me: cotton; lace; sweater quantities; everything else.
by weight
DG, you’re a hoot! “I” organize my things “like things together” and for me means I sort my yarn by weight.
By weight, except for sweater quantities, and for sock yarn, also by brand. Weaving yarn is pretty much the same, though I do have a large box that just says GIST on the side (www.gistyarns.com, I’m sorry but now you have to live with that knowledge just like I do). It’d drive me crazy if I needed sock-weight yarn and had to dig through a box of like colors but all different weights to find what I needed. Sorting by color is prettier, though, I grant. I don’t have a craft room to put things out in the open, so everything is in airtight boxes in the attic or the barn. I am several decades beyond having everything fit into a single piece of case furniture, though occasionally I think to myself that things might be slightly out of control. I browse for yarn online until that goes away.
So I know exactly where to find whatever yarn I’m looking for, but I wouldn’t use the term “organization” to describe it. There’s a bin with large quantities of particular kinds of yarn. (But stuff I’ve had for a while, not the large quantities that are in that other bin that I got more recently. That second bin has all my Noro yarn too, obviously.) One bin for leftovers from other projects and crap yarn. (But not the little 3″ scraps left over from weaving in ends that are perfect for tying handspun yarn into hanks. That’s in another little box.) There’s a random bag of all my Lopi yarn (which keeps getting smaller because I Cannot Stop with these Daytrippers I keep churning out), a beautiful bamboo salad bowl with pretty sock yarn, a small basket with handspun yarn, a huge magazine basket with the cheap acrylic, etc. etc. It’s not pretty but it works for me. (Sometimes I think about reorganizing to a sensible system, but I worry that I would never be able to find anything if I did that!)
Ok, yeah, i totally get that there are too many ways to organize yarn. currently i have a system that makes perfect sense. in my office closet sits a stack of bins: a bin of lace and fingering, another of dk/sport, worsted is separated into superwash and non- for some reason i can’t remember (maybe i was planning on felting something huge and wanted to see all my options at once?), then another of aran and a mostly empty bin of chunky-jumbo. and there’s a bin of sweater-quantities of yarn (which i bought with specific patterns in mind, some of which i sort of remember), and the bin that’s half full of knitted hexipuffs. …but then there’s the other closet. that’s where the wips live. and the sweater quantities of yarn that i’m just about to cast on (if i can decide which pattern to use), and the random skeins that i recently bought and haven’t put away yet (because i’m just about to cast those on too) and the other random skeins that i re-discovered last time i rummaged through the bins… these are in multiple baskets and project bags and ziploc bags in the closet. not too bad, right? but let’s not talk about the basket sitting behind me in the office, full of yarn i definitely probably have a plan for. and the basket full of project bags downstairs, which i am definitely currently knitting. mostly. …knitting is a fickle hobby. what can i say?
I have a hierarchy to my yarn storage. First, where did it come from? Craft store or a real yarn shop? The “good” yarn is stored separately from the acrylic. Then by weight then by color.
Different bins by weight and my ‘nice’/’fancy’ yarn separate from my ‘cheaper’ yarn
I know it’s boring, but majority of my yarn is in bins by weight. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to find what I’m looking for. Likewise, needles are in bags by type and stored in colorful box.
Fingering yarn is in clear tubs (I’m not saying how many…). Leftover sock yarn is spilling out of a rather large basket. The balance of yarn is in a sweater chest (where it waits to be knit into sweaters).
My spare bedroom is FILLED with yarn! I have bins sorted by gauge; I have bins sorted by “like”; I have bins with bags of yarn crammed in
In clear plastic bins by yarn type…most of the time!
My stash is modest and I tend to group things by project. Unfortunately some just never get done but I am always on the lookout for alternative patterns
My self striping yarn is stored together in large zipper bags. I keep farm yarns bagged together based on the Farm. After that, it is just chaos!
Separated by weight, lots of ziplocs for the wool. Like with like. Wool and acrylic are in different rooms. Well, mostly… Keep trying to knit down the early-days acrylic stash. and the 40-year old Alafosslopi stash. Then there’s that wicker picnic basket of dishcloth cotton…
I sort first by weight, then by color (this drawer is all fingering yarn in blues and greens, the next is fingering yarn in oranges and reds, etc.). And yes, my spices are alphabetical. Not that you asked. 😉
My stash has spiraled completely out of control. I used to have bins by weight. I still do, a bin of sock yarn, a bin of SQs*… except! There’s sock yarn everywhere in the house and SQs still in the Priority Mail box that the Mn Knitters’ Guild sent me, because I bought 7 SQs at their last auction. It’s hopeless.
With all that said, I told Kay I’m still going to buy myself some Atlas. Yarn diet schmiet. So watch out, DG! I’m very unpredictable.
*SQ= Sweater Quantity (because someone will want to know)
What? You don’t stash SQs? I want an SQ of Atlas.
Thanks for clarifying SQ. I knew reading all these comments would pay off!
A section of my quilt room has been provided for my growing yarn stash. Current knitting projects are in their own containers including my newly arrived Blanket of Joy kit in its special Baggu bag. Such delight.
My sock yarn is all in 14 little bins with a few skeins on top of the bookcase in the office [where all the sock yarn is]]. The rest is pretty much sorted into bags in various parts of the house and garage; like with like by possible projects. Books I’ve read in the living room. Books to be read in the office. Baking pans on a rack in the laundry room with the cookbooks. So mostly Like With Like. It works most of the time . . .
29 years ago I put down my knitting needles and started quilting…now I’m back! Since I’m a recent knitter, I don’t have a lot of stash. What I have is stored by project in tote bags with the pattern.
Random stash is organized by weight, other stash that has a purpose is kept separate.
My yarns are vaguely sorted by weight, ( or gauge) patterns specify by weight, lace, dk, etc
Well, loosely – and I mean very loosely – it is stored by weight. But then if I get a big stash of something I love (like Rowan Felted Tweed or Jamieson & Smith) it gets its own bin – unless its sock yarn and its sorted by color – unless its Palette and it has its own bin. Some of my travel yarn is in a cedar chest – and I have yarn all over the house! Actually our house looks more like a work room that we live in!!
I have an entire room dedicated to fiber art, and more than half the time I can barely walk into it because indecision over an organizing strategy means there are piles all over the floor. What I have in my head….. three zones for knitting, weaving, and spinning. Project-specific knitting yarn grouped by project with the intended pattern, then the rest sorted by weight. Someday….
My yarn is organized by weight. I have clear plastic bins for fingering/sock, sport, DK & worsted/aran. Because my fingering/sock comprises more than one bin, that yarn is suborganized by dyer/brand alphabetically. Partial skeins go back to their bin unless the amount left is very small. Those small balls go into a large apothocary jar on display on my coffee table.
Willy nilly in a couple very deep drawers in a cabinet in my craft room
No, no, no! From a master organizer of her stash. Done at least once year
Wait … you keep a little poodle in a dark room with lawn tools? What???
Right now it’s all in a big plastic tub! Yarn goes with yarn. I’ve only been knitting a couple years, but I’m trying to stick with only buying yarn if I have a pattern in mind (or how do you know how much to buy?), and not buying more yarn unless I have fewer than, like, six project in the queue . . . .
So we are of like minds, sort of, lol. I used to sort my spices alphabetically, but now they are also divided by main uses. Pots are separated from pans in descending size; ah but what distinguishes pot from pan? Items are sorted and placed where they are basically the most handy. Books with books, but current or soon to be read near reading chairs ir bed. Yarn is now right next to my chair; was sorted by 1. content and sub category size. Color doesn’t matter because they all look nice together. (Handiest place, main theme so they will blend well in a project) 2. I have bags with the yarn lined up for my next project, as I basically knit one project at a time. Does anyone else in the house understand? Not when they unload the dishwasher. lol
The spice dilemma! Mine ARE alphabetical except for Indian ones which are separate because they all tend to get used at the same time (every Indian cookbook I have: “first, take five hundred spices out of the cabinet”) so I finally decided they should live together.
i organize by yarn weight…or project in mind…or what looks pretty! I have a problem, but don’t mind at all 🙂
Bag of cottons, bag of wools, bag of older stash in closet, bag of ongoing project.
Yarn is in the pantry–where else? in cute baskets and bins, and lovely project bags, next to the canned goods and pasta. It’s my mixed-media supplies that drive my OCD son (who’s been visiting for a few months now) right out of his gourd. It’s a daily refrain–“what if you had shelves right here” or “is this how you LIKE your stuff?” My stash of random paper, ephemera, pens, paints, inks, and the like are stored in various shoeboxes, bins, boxes, baskets, and stacks in 2 bookshelves and one cupboard. All of this is within the confines of the “guest room” so I get that it makes his head spin. But sorry! Art must go on, and each to his/her own.
Same yarn weights together in clear plastic bins. Some smaller bins with yarns for specific future projects.
Yarn ends up where it fits. Small balls left over from projects get shoved in around large skeins. Please, don’t send me one of those baskets, I don’t have enough horizontal space for it. Thanks.
loosely by fiber content, then weight.
In sealed tubs by weight. I do dream of more sorting by color or yardage, but I need TIME to do that!!
Yarn is organized by weight and fiber content. Specific projects are in project bags along with the pattern
I finally live alone so my house is a a greenhouse of yarn blooming projects . Bags,bowls and shelfs blooming or waiting to grow. When I purchase yarn its put together in a container with the instructions ready to start. Some take years to bloom but it looks pretty and organized. l
Yarn by weight, in tightly closed plastic bags, on a shelf! Straight needles in a cute cup or two. Circulars stuck through a piece of leather tacked to the wall in a little pouch shape, with a needle gauge on a tack nearby. Little bits and bobs in zipper pouches kind of… everywhere. It works for my mid-size collection.
I thought I had too much yarn waiting in the queue, but after reading these comments I need to expand my collection! I think it will help with my organization to have masses of the squishy stuff to organize. I also sew and do have a vast collection of fabrics. These are arranged by color family and as all are cottons there is no weight to consider as in yarn.
Started out Yarn by Weight, then moved to Yarn by Color, then got all jumbled up because I was doing a lot of color work that used multiple colors, so then Yarn by Brand, subdivided by Weight, now I think it is Yarn by Current Projects upstairs and Yarn (sorta) by Weight or Fiber Content or I Never Really Want to Deal With this Yarn Again but Can’t Quite Get Rid of It, all in bins in a lower level closet. Of course, when my there’s-a-duck brain is trapped by the Next Best Thing … hmmmm … there’s never really quite the right amount of the right weight and/or color in any of my stashes …
I live in a studio condo and have an ikea bookshelf with 16 large squares separating my bed from my dining table. I keep my cookbooks, knitting and spinning books, and yarn on those shelves. I like them visible as it reminds me of projects I want to knit next which keeps me moving on my current wip. The yarn that I purchased because it was beautiful and I couldn’t live without it is organized by weight, and the project yarn is organized by its order in my que. I made a rule that after I finished a project yarn, I must knit up something in my non project yarn and I no longer buy yarn without a pattern or project in mind. Then I bought a spinning wheel and can spin as much yarn as I want because I’m learning how to spin, right?
I organize for simple retrieval. Can I find what I need? If the answer is yes then we’re good. Never mind what people say about me!
My yarn is generally organized by weight in a plastic drawer thingie, with the exception of yarn for charity knitting, which has its own storage bag. My small collection of Redman picnic baskets hold yarn, too, hence the ‘generally’. WIPs live in a basket next to ‘my spot’, along with remains of skeins from FOs. These stay until the day [I get sick of the chaos] and I weigh, label and re-ball and store in baggies for other projects. Needle sets and other notions live in an old zippered plastic pouch that used to house a blanket. Blocking tools are in the bedroom of my grown and flown daughter because I can stretch a project out on the floor and keep the dog out.
O, I sort by yarn weight
The small quantities of yarn is sorted by weight, larger amounts by kind and then by project.
Is it coincidence that I just finished reading “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo? I love to be tidy. I like working on one project at a time. When I have too much yarn I feel overwhelmed and anxious that I’m not using the yarn. Right now I’m knitting a blanket using 10 balls of beige wool. All this extra wool is transforming itself into something beautiful, after languishing on my shelf for years. Pretty sure I’m in the minority when it comes to yarn stashes!
Of course I sort by color and weight and number of skeins that can go into a single garment and by fabric type and genus and species and by how much I used to like that specific skein. Oh – and I try not to store my stash in the kitchen cabinets.
Cotton, linen and acrylic yarn are in fabric boxes in a frame that holds them all. Animal-fiber yarns divided by weight live in plastic containers on a book shelf…except the enormous one that is just fingering weight. That lives under my sewing machine table and is just the right height for a footrest. That’s most of it, except for yarn people keep giving me as they destash. What to do with it?? That’s all in my garage-turned-studio. In the house? 4-5 baskets and trays for projects in progress. And ten years ago I swore I wouldn’t accumulate yarn like I have with quilting fabric. Silly me!
My yarn is in an old fridge in the garage. Somewhat organized by weight/color on shelves and vegetable/meat bins. At least I don’t feel guilty standing in front of this fridge with the door open staring at its contents. 😉
My yarn is stored by project – upcoming projects in bags (or the boxes the yarn came in) on the counter in the laundry room – there’s barely room to fold clothes. Yarn from previous projects used to be in plastic totes in various cupboards, but lately, I’ve taken over spare bedrooms. There’s yarn for a few projects I may never start in there, too. I really should do a purge. Tools should be in one of a couple of drawers, or in a pouch in a knitting bag in use. So, I guess my way is a corollary to sorting by Field Guides. But really – if I were you, I’d sort by weight.
Wool with wool, alpaca with alpaca, cotton with cotton. Etc.
I, um, TRY to keep like fibers together …wool with wool, cotton with cotton and then by colors
I organize by project. In ziploc bags and those plastic bags you vacuum the air out of. The bags are stored in drawers. It’s fun to open the drawers and surprise myself with a project I had forgotten about.
Organizing? Perhaps not the right word. I periodically go around the house, room to room, gathering up UFOs and random balls of yarn and patterns. I put them all in a huge plastic box. So I guess they are organized by when I acquired the yarns. Early covid I started knitting socks and I went through my boxes looking for yarn and found three unfinished pairs which I am now happily wearing. And, yes, I also have a room I call the library! The library table doubles as the dining table
I too am trying to organize my craft room. You are so right, putting like together can get confusing. For me the biggest thing will be culling the herd, so to speak, Good luck with your very big project.
I have a dread of getting rid of any yarn. As soon as I give something up, I am sure I will need it for a project i find on Pinterest or ravelry.
I store yarn in storage bins arranged by weight. Unfortunately the buns are taking over not only a closet but a corner of my living room!
By weight, of course. I even have two large yarn storage shelves that I bought from a LYS that was going out of business. But then I arrange by solids or variegated, and colors with coordinating colors. Need I mention, I have a LOT of yarn.
To the extent part of my stash is organized, it’s by weight. The other part is by project, when I can remember which project it is for. And then there are some (plenty ) of skins that are just hanging around in my office because they haven’t found a home yet. It is definitely a work in process,
By weight in plastic bins on shelving in a large closet in my studio/guest room.
All my yarn is in the same cabinet, sorted into plastic bags by kind – so, all the Katia Concept of one color together, all the CoBoo of a color together. The random leftover skeins get their own shelf. Projects in progress are all in a project bag – I typically have four going at any one time. FOs? Well, they are everywhere, sadly, much like your towels.
No but I try to store it by same fiber co .
just two bins — one is handspun and the other is mostly baby project focused yarn.
I sort yarn by fibre (cotton, linen, wool) and then (mostly) by weight, but it might be fun to switch it up and sort it by colour. It’s all in plastic ziplock bags as voracious moths live in the area. All woollens that aren’t in daily use are stored in a blanket box.
I have bins sorted by weight and also (many) small bins with the yarn needed to complete a single project.
My organization: I have all the weights of yarn separated into their own large plastic bags – worsted of every color in its own bag, etc. this works for me!
I have a large stash organized by projects and in plastic bins on racks in my garage. I have a 26 page excel sheet that categorizes each bin number, yarn manufacturer , type of yarn, color, gauge, project, pattern , needle size. I can sort by each of these columns to find what I’d like to knit including WIPs
Next I have to get control of my needles on another tab on my spreadsheet
Hubby not happy about the loss of the garage
However that doesn’t stop me from seeing a new pattern and yarn and anxiously waiting for the delivery
Travel always includes visits to yarn shops
I have Elfa shelves in my home office closet. There are bins-I generally buy yarn for projects, so projects go into bins (numbered with a list of what’s in each, kept on my iPad) with bins for Madelinetosh yarns, Makabrigo yarns, two bins with Rowan felted tweed, dishcloth cotton yarn, etc. I will go through them periodically to see if there are any projects I won’t make or yarns I know I won’t ever knit. But I still have stashes of yarn in the bedroom and near where I knit.
My goal is to keep all the same types of yarn together, ie sock yarn, worsted etc. Things go off track when the allotted space for a yarn type fills up. My yarn stash is (over) due for a good rearrangement and weeding.
I just reorganized all my yarn. If bought for a specific project, yarn is in a big Ziplock bag with the pattern needed for that project. All those project bags are stored in two upholstered trunks (think coffee tables) I got from Target years ago. Then most of the rest is stored in big Ziplocks by weight/use – sock, fingering, DK, etc. Those bags are squeezed into the drawers of a secretary in my dining room. If I have lots of bits and pieces of a particular brand/style of yarn, such as Lettlopi, those go in a plastic bag in the same secretary. And my projects that only need to be sewn together are in one drawer of a chest in my foyer.
I keep all my stash in super large glass jars and vases grouped by color families and yarn weight.
I’m sorry you have so little stash, unless you live in a glass jar house.
I’ve been sorting mostly by weight. Bins, shopping bags, laundry baskets all in the spare bedroom closet. FO go into drawers. So far it’s working…
Oh gosh, organize it?? I’m running out of room in the three tier tote I have, so maybe soon I should decide to organize. Maybe by projects, might be the best way for me. Print off the pattern I bought the yarn for and go from there, I guess, lol
Organized? HA!
My yarn is stored in empty clear plastic salad boxes. You know – “Field Greens” from the grocery store. Wools go with wool, sub-divided into weight, then color. Cottons on a separate shelf. Exotics (silk, linen, alpaca) have their own section because they are special and they need JUST the right project. Odds and bobs wool in these salad boxes on the floor, leftovers scraps of bast fibers in those. And the rolling bin in the corner has acrylics.
Timely post! I just reorganized my stash cabinet and decided to organize the shelves by the following guidelines: top shelf – yarn for projects in the que; middle shelf – skeins I just couldn’t resist; bottom shelf – cakes I couldn’t resist. I have one drawer that holds my project bags and another with all the tools & gadgets.
The best plan was to utilize my daughter’s floor to ceiling book shelf since she’s out of the house. Bought large clear plastic bins, 3 fit on ea shelf and are filled up, with no further organization. More recent yarn purchases and home dyed yarns are in a bin on the floor of the linen closet. Needles are in a top dresser drawer sorted by size. All of the yarn have pheromone moth traps that I change every 3-6 mos and I add trichogamma microscopic wasps also, if needed, ordered from Natures Good Guys. That really helped finish off a moth infestation a few years ago, a nightmare!
My stash is organized just to suit me, mostly by weight, but one box is yarn bought specifically for a pattern, and another is yarn left overs from projects.
Well- if it comes in from the mill, yarn gets stored by date, then type, then likelihood that it’ll be dyed soon. If I buy yarn it gets put in a “place near and dear” in a special carry bag until i get the project underway – or complete- (thank you for Bang out a sweater motivation btw!!!) Maybe old style Rolodex needs to come back!!!
Laughing hysterically here… My “system” occurred over time. My stash is in plastic bins that are sorted by age. The largest and oldest bin has yarns purchased over 30 years ago some with “hibernating” projects and leftovers as well as some yarns that I just never got around to using. My stash arrangement is a trip down memory lane and I love it that way.
Stash- by project in its own labeled bag. Older stash is in bins. Notions- like things together.
My yarn organizing –
1) yarn by brand, weight in clear boxes so the new Atlas will have its own space.
2) separate boxes when I buy yarn with a particular pattern, ideally the yarn and a copy of the pattern go together (that doesn’t mean it might get outsourced for another project).
3) The remains go to the generic “weight box” ie little balls of all worsted superwash together.
One of my best purchases was the case lot of clear boxes from the Container Store (Target has a bulk offer too)
I do have a system! But it’s actually unexplainable, and only makes sense to me. Perfect!
I have very tall (vintage) IKEA cabinets with glass doors that contain sweater or blanket quantities of yarn packed in plastic bags. Yarn is sorted by weight and color so the top are the lace and sock weight and bottom of cabinet are bulky and super bulky and other weights in between. Other yarns that are onesies and twosies are in plastic bins sorted by superwash, cotton, acrylic and wool, sock, etc. I have lavendar and cedar in the cubbies and bins. This method makes it easy to see that I have too much yarn and that I better get some projects going.
Totally not organized….might be the only thing in my house that isn’t. I just love the excitement of reaching into a yarn bin and pulling out ….. something. Helps spur my creativity
It’s in tubs (sort of by weight, but not to be relied upon), various swag bags from trail runs, and big cushy crocheted storage baskets. That corner of our home office is mine and my husband respects that. My 11-year-old granddaughter is allowed to dive in whenever she wants, and once, during a game of hide n seek, it took me twenty minutes to realize she was underneath it (the best twenty minutes of her life, she claimed).
Oddly, my needles are organized and my stash is jumbled all together
I group by weight and subgroup by fiber
As a librarian, I have tried to figure out a Dewey Decimal system for storing my stash. But in reality, I go with the fingering with the fingering, the worsted with the worsted, etc.
I don’t have a lot of stash or WIPs because I find having extra yarn waiting to be knit up makes me anxious. But what I have is organized by weight and color groups. Two small plastic containers of fingering. One of DK. A larger bin with bulky. And two medium ones with leftovers of fingering to DK and Worsted to bulky respectively. My WIPs are in project bags designed by Three Bags Full, MicheleinMaine on Ravelry. Still doesn’t always keep me from buying new yarn or starting new projects.
Well, If it is yarn for a specific project, it is in a bag with pattern; “un-assigned” yarn is in a box with like-type/size yarn–sock, worsted, DK, etc. . And if it was purchased with some other yarn or yarns because I liked it but didn’t have a project in mind, it goes on the dining room table until I decide where it goes. I cannot see the top of my dining room table–1/2 current project, 1/2 potential projects. Is this a method?
I have two 12 hole cube storage shelves. All yarn is listed in my Ravelry Stash page. Other than that, there is no logic to it.
I store yarn in moth-proof boxes and categorized by weight – fingering, worsted weight, etc. However, I have boxes labeled and containing exceptions to that system for certain yarn companies that I have strong preferences for using.
My stash is sorted by yarn weight and I prefer when yarn stores do the same exact. It makes it easier to find what I need for a specific project. If the warehouse chooses the same system it could post a mini photo of the front of the field guide and a mini photo of the page of the project, next to the yarn that is appropriate for that project. At the field guide display, there could be a poster listing page numbers and the location of the yarn. Example: the yarn for the sweater on page 8 is on aisle 4 section 6. (Small signs would of course then be needed for different sections and aisles of the warehouse.)
It would send shoppers on a mini treasure hunt. Imagine the additional treasures they would find along the way!
Yarn is sorted by project.
After reading about a third of the comments I realize I use almost all of the methods. Cashmere and cashmere blends are together, fingering of a certain type go together, all the colors of one brand go together, etc. i went into a yarn store that had everything by color. I thought I’d go nuts trying to put yarns together for a project: there seemed to be no organization at all.
I also have cubbies, bins, bins in cubbies, baskets, etc. The best I can do is I keep it all in one room…except the project(s) I’m working on – they move around with me.
I have my yarn in baskets based on weight. Colors are all mixed up, but I also have a very small stash.
I organize by weight. That helps me “shop at home” when planning a new project.
Organized by weight in Ikea children’s drawers and in bins!
My stash is organized by weight in rubber made bins. A curious kitten at my house ensured all yarn must be packed away, which also protects from moths. My sweater quantities are separate in the drawers of a dresser in my guest room.
My blue yarn is sort of with other blues maybe adjacent to greens because you know the color wheel. I’ve started to bag future Projects thinking if they get a bag they’re closer to being started. This has now created a bag storage issue which is slowly turning me into a bag lady to organize any and all projects. It’s a conundrum for sure….
I am a big time organizer. Worsted first and color second.
My yarn is in need of an entire day of organizing. It is currently in plastic bins. Some organized by yarn type but most is not organized at all!
Each yarn is in a zip lock baggie with a card inside saying how much I have of each color, placed into bins sorted by weight.
That’s how it started out. Now it’s a mess, although vestiges of organization remain. Meanwhile I keep buying more yarn.
My worsted is mostly with the worsted, except the super special skeins which have their own bin. And then there’s the boxes of yarn for specific projects, which have their own home. Basically, my, um, ‘system’ makes sense to me, but would boggle the mind of anyone not living in my brain.
My (voluminous) stash is mostly organized by weight. The key for me is labeling the bins. “Neutral sock yarn”. “Sock yarn mohair blends”. “MCN sock yarn”. “Sweater quantities”. “Worsted weight alpaca blends”. And so on.
Organization of the non-stash parts of my house: not.
Yarn is stored by weight, then by color. And yes, all inventoried through Ravelry Stash. (Similar to my closet.). If only I could get the socks to cooperate! Hah!
Just a bin for the current project…wish I could afford a stash!
Worsted is by worsted and so on. All in bags inside tubs. Now if only I could’ve get all the tubs of certain weights next to one another.
I organize by weight, it makes the most sense to me!
I organize by weight, unless it’s a kit, or really special yarn, or I’m gonna use it soon, or, or… 😉
I am not a big stasher, my knitting friends all consider me a weirdo—but what stash I do have is organized by weight.
I organize my yarn by weight, and then by color. Warm colors, neutral colors, and then cool colors. Tools all go together in one drawer.
Mine is organized by weight. Mostly. Except for the yarn on the bed. Those are for projects I want to do sooner rather than later.
Most of it is by weight!
I moved away form my home of 40 years late in 2020. Everything started out pretty good. I organize mostly by projects as my purchase go in that direction. But I have tried to group according to weight. Needless to say, as the moving date loomed closer, everything got shoved in bins and bags. It still remains to this day. But I am slowly carving down my WIPs.
Shetland yarn is together, as are sock leftovers. Someday I might reorganize the rest by weight.
In tote bags by weight
Stash is by weight since patterns list weight usually
I have a bin of cotton with books for cotton knits inside. There is a small bin of acrylic. Finally there are way too many bins of sock yarn! Needles are in 2 plastic bins, straight/DPNs and circs. I’m incapable of not buying more sock yarn so go thru stash and release current least favorites to donation status. Stop me, please.LOL
I organize by weight, with a few exceptions. In fact I think a stash re-organizing/refresher is in order today!
My yarn is mostly in tubs by brand and weight, also specifics in their respective project bags/boxes. Anything boxed is labeled with what’s inside. Within this loose system works in process, mending, everything that I want to work on most is set in my site line in my work space. My list of to do projects gets edited regularly, items move around.
Something that helped me greatly in getting a handle on my stash was a letter from Kay in August 2021 about clearing your work space, check it out. I had been trying to catalog everything in a spreadsheet and felt overwhelmed and bogged down in details. Her method worked for me in getting a handle in sorting what I had, what stayed, what could be let go. Thank you Kay!
I need not a thing, but still am eyeing the Atlas bag of 22…..
The yarn is nestled together by (future) project plans—which get hijacked every time I look at the internet—with a few bits actually bagged in zip loc bags, ready to go like airplanes on the tarmac. And then there’s the souvenir yarn, like the Peruvian thread-weight, wound so tightly into rock-hard balls that I’ll never be able to relax it enough to knit—it all hangs out together in a corner, like the tough kids on the playground in 6th grade, glaring at anyone who dares to come close.
My stash is organized by no rhyme or reason. Just assigned to a numbered cube in which it will fit. I keep track in the Ravelry stash. But assigning numbers to the cubes allows me to keep track of it! Ravelry can organize by weight or color when needed.
Yarn is separated by “project” (sometimes, it’s a hoped-for project) and fabric is by color. Blue with blue… Muffins are all banked in the big freezer, and curses on anyone who eats the last muffin and doesn’t tell me when it’s time to make new ones!
I like the joy of discovery, so I keep my stash pretty random.
I applaud the brave person who orders blue yarn. It is like ordering a surprise packet. I love surprise yarns because I create my best sweaters out of odd stuff that never had a raison’d’etre.
Yarn is separated by weight, then fiber, and stored in labeled plastic bins in a dedicated closet. Any specific yarn that I have potential project quantities of with no project in mind is usually stored and labeled separately within the larger bin. Straight knitting needles are on display in my “office” space in a paper covered oatmeal cylinder. DPNs and circs are stored in a binder; each needle (or set) in its own zip lock bag, marked with size: separate binders for each type. Yarn purchased for specific projects are stored in various tote and project bags, with the pattern and any tools specific to that project, and sometimes the needles, too, depending on whether that size needle is needed for another project and just how many of that size needle I own. Those project bags hang on the door knob of my space, keeping that door forever open. What I call “tools for every project,” row counters, gauge ruler, small scissors/snips, etc., hang out together in 1 small bin. (Really an empty baby wipe container.) Crochet hooks are relegated to a small zippered case, tucked away in the nether regions of my work table, usually only brought out for picking up dropped stitches, but residing in project bags when said project is lace. (Or when I need to whip up some small stockings in a hurry for Christmas.) After many attempts to organize and stay that way this is the only system that has worked for me (meaning I can find things when I need them because I actually put them away) consistently for over 6 months. *fingers crossed*
I have one of those IKEA 2 x 8 cube storage containers, half of it for knitting books, half for yarn. And several large clear plastic storage bins. Last time I tossed the stash I organized by weight/ projects (one bin has dk/worsted for hats) Some yarn is in project bags, waiting to be started, some in project boxes, waiting to changed from hibernating to wip……
My yarn is sorted by weight: lace/fingering; sport; DK; worsted (blends, greasy, superwash, basic wool); and one bin of “luxury “ yarn of different fibers like silk or novelty yarns like eyelash. No bulky or chunky for me!
I have really tried to avoid accumulating a yarn stash equal to the fabric stash. Really. A pandemic inventory was a little discouraging. In a 4” marble memo book, I noted the weight and total yardage of each yarn on a separate page, and taped a sample of the yarn. That is the organization part. (How did I end up with so much red wool?) Otherwise, some yarn is stored in those large popcorn tins one gets at the holidays, each labeled, and on a closet shelf. Most of the rest is in a gigundo zipped nylon bag, with each yarn in a separate zip lock bag. Circular needles are in a clear plastic bin, and other needles are in several needle cases and 2 of those cardboard tubes that once held bottles of scotch. All of this in the alleged “sewing room” except for the current project(s) placed under the small table at my favorite chair.
I organize my yarn by weight into labelled totes and needles sorted by size in cases or plastic bags. Keeping it organized is another story!
By fiber first. Then by weight. Except for yarn that I’ve actually bought for a specific project – I try to put that in separate ziplock bags with the pattern so I remember why I actually bought it!
Then I go searching and things get all mixed up. But that allows me to spend a couple of hours quietly listening to an audiobook and resorting so I’m good!
Some by weight, and some by color. A major reorganization is needed!
I currently have the needles in the needle drawer and the beads in the bead drawer and the yarn is loosely organized by manufacturer. But that is very unsatisfying because I tend to buy a lot of fingering weight/sock yarns by a single dyer to “try it out” or as a souvenir skein and they tend to breed like tribbles for some reason. So there is current chaos in the stash as I pull it out to rearrange it into weight and colors instead so it will be easier to use together for projects since I knit, crochet, and weave and even sometimes toss it into spinning projects. If you can’t see or find it, it’s kinda useless, right?
Sock yarn in one bin; everything else can fend for itself
I first organize my yarn by projects and where they are located in my house. Then I organize some stash by maker and others by weight. Someday I’d like to organize it all by weight.
sort by weight. always by weight!
My stash is in baskets on an open cart. I went from NO organization before I moved, to attempting to sort yarn by weight as I unpacked, to the inevitable “which yarn I used last on top.” I’ve never been very good at organizing (you should see my desk), but I always know where everything is in the (seeming) mess.
Yarns for crochet with yarns for crochet in a basket or three in a room or two. Yarns for rug hooking and punching needle and for use when I teach in their big basket and the “special” yarn basket. Yarn to dye currently in two bags. Not enough time or space!
I got tired of unpacking all my yarn to find the skeins I wanted. I finally put them in zip bags, all skeins of the same brand and variety together in one bag (i.e., three skeins of the same kind of Rowan); each bag has a post-it or other slip of paper with the weight (“1 – fingering”) on it. I store the bags in bins and try to keep the same weights together. On Ravelry, I note on each yarn in my Stash where the yarn is stored (“small bin”, “large blue bin”). I still have to do some digging in a bin to find the yarn, but at least I know which bin to look in!
First of all, no one would ever call what I do a system. I tend to buy with a pattern in mind, so I have a lot of project quantities of yarn with a pattern in bags. Initially, all my projects fit inside of wheeled carts with drawers and bins on top. Now bags hang have overtaken the child’s desk and that has been repurposed as a sewing table as well as the knitting machine bench and stand (knitting machine is in a box in a closet). It is not a system….
Sorted by weight, then subdivided by dyer. Leftovers are sorted by weight and fiber.
I keep especially pretty yarns in an antique glass bowl for petting and inspiration. The rest is kinda-kinda sock, kinda lace, kinda worsted etc.
My yarn is roughly by weight, now in bins as I had to remove it from its home in a nice dresser/armoire when we moved last summer. It is hoping to find a new cabinet to move into.
Luckily I don’t have so much yarn that I need a warehouse, but if I did I would want a round building with my packing station at the center (hub and spoke) to cut the maximum walking distance in half. Then a lovely wagon to periodically take the orders to a mailing station. Luckily for others I don’t actually have to make a warehouse work.
Personally I’ve learned that if items I don’t use frequently are out of view I’ll forget I have them. And most things have intrinsic beauty so I want to see them. (empty space is not for me). My yarn/fleece is a source of inspiration so I use open bins and baskets where I can generally see them. They’re loosely sorted by type (bast, animal), then feltable/nonfeltable. Depending on the project my baskets may temporarily migrate and cluster around my worksurface – a mini hub and spoke.
Organized by weight, except bins for SQs, Projects With Patterns, Luxury Yarn, Dishcloths, and TanisFiberArts. When I found out Joji Locatelli organizes all her yarn by color I flipped.
I do try to store like weights together, but all bets are off after that!
I need to come up with a better system! I just shove the yarn as I purchase it into a cabinet and then list in Ravelry just where the heck it is.
My categories are generally by weight, but I have wool separate from cotton/linen/silk, and superwash separate from non, and my inherited yarn from my grandmother in its own box, and I need to update my ravelry stash page because I discovered some yarn I totally forgot about. (Hi, malabrigo chunky, what was the plan for 3+1 skeins? Cowl? Kids vest? Hat & mittens?)
Organized chaos understood only by me!! Don’t touch anything.
Currently my yarn is organized by category- fingering with fingering and so on. I try to sub organize by color but that gets more difficult with hand dyed fun flare! The ultimate solution alludes me as well.
If the yarn is for a specific pattern, I keep it in a basket with the pattern. All other yarns are sorted by weight.
I use a guest room closet. Bag, bins, and totes are taking over. I’ve started giving yarn to new knitters to encourage them and make room for more.
I don’t have a system, unfortunately.
Some years ago I bought a Workbox 2.0. My yarn is now organized by weight and by color. It is lovely to sit at the attached desk to bead or knit and see all my colorful yarny goodness that surrounds me!
A little bit of blue here, a little bit of blue there, and a big bit of blue somewhere in between.
My stash is a very complicated issue! First of all, I have WAY too much stash, more stash then I could possibly use. I have kits in plastic bags all over the place. Loose yarn on shelves and In drawers. It is truly pathetic and yet I continue to feed my stash. What is wrong with me? I see lovely things made by makers on Instagram and Facebook and am driven by sources unknown to purchase them thus adding to my chaos. If anyone has any ideas on what to do with all this madness please let me know. Thank you, overly indulged
Pamela,
My stash was out of control as well including my knitting and crochet tools. I decided to inventory everything using Ravelry’s inventory system. My thrift store took in yarn, needles, books, etc. that I didn’t want. I also decided to limit my stash to what fit in bins under my bed. That still was thousands of yards, plus what I had inherited from my mother! It took about 2 weeks to focus on the project, but now it’s not overwhelming. Good luck with this; you’ll feel better once it’s under control. Deb Z.
I started out using a large covered plastic box. That got quickly filled up. Now each project goes in a project bag, with it’s intended printed paper pattern. All knitting yarns are stored in my bedroom. There’s some quilting fabric in there too, but that’s overflow space. My sewing room is full with stacks of covered plastic boxes filled with fabric organized by color. That’s another rabbit hole.
I sort my stash by weight – each in a storage room. That is not far from the truth and I am 89 years old. It has occurred to me that I might not have time to use it all but how to choose what to keep? I will read all the comments to see if I can get some inspiration.
Very loosely organized by yarn weight in bins in the spare bedroom closet.
My yarn is sorted in bins according to weight and then for my wool yarns (most of my stash) I sort super wash from non-super wash wools.
This is so fascinating!! I thought there would be more variety but it seems the most common method is by weight. For the last 20 years have always stored yarn by color in clear plastic bins, but I have a few bins that are by project. Some boxes are a blend of red, red-orange, orange for example. All variegated yarns are kept together unless it’s a variegated yarn of different shades of one color. A navy blue to light blue variegated skein is in the blue bin. I have one exception which is that all my cotton yarns for making dish cloths are kept keep together regardless of color!
Organized by weight and then nothing, just chaos within weight
My yarn stash is organized by project which may or may not have a blue yarns.
All of my stash is sorted by love!
I feel your pain. There are WAY too many ways to organize yarn. One day when I retire I will figure out the perfect system. Right!
I sort a couple of different ways: most yarn is sorted by weight, another by quantity for larger projects, and a small stash of projects in my “knit this next” section.
I sort by: worsted, fingering etc and then by content!
I organized my stash last year when I discovered Ravelry’s inventory capabilities; boxed upand marked 1st by weight, then color. My WIP’s are organized in baskets and the likelihood of finishing!
My yarn stash has a couple of different organizational “systems.” There are bins that store yarn by weight with no regard for color because those are typically single skeins of “ooh, pretty!” purchases. Then I have bins that contain sweater quantities of a particular yarn. And lastly, I have bins of yarn that I don’t know what to do with… multiple skeins of a particular colorway stashed with other multi-skein colorways, all of which may or may not be the same weight.
Mostly my yarn is stored in clear bags, in clear bins, stacked 6-7 feet high along the extra bedroom wall, except for the ones used for weaving which are in a curved glass fronted cabinet which was destined for the thrift shop until I realized the value of keeping it in the bedroom with the loom. Patterns, books and magazines are stored in bookshelves along one wall of the sewing room, bins of fabrics are along the other wall. My husband is quite convinced that our house has tilted the entire world off it’s axis.
I have my yarn in bins according to fiber content and/or weight. It’s in one of those cube shelf things with colorful bins. My fiber-related books are in another cube shelf thingy. There might be a bit of overflow into some baskets 🙂
No answer here but I’m rearranging my stash and having the same internal debate. The only thing I’m positive of is putting a selection of ready-to-go yarn on a shelf so when I “have” to cast-on something new, I know where to go for instant satisfaction.
Organize? Organize? I keep thinking I will, but hate to miss the experience of going through ALL my yarn…just feeling it all, seeing the colors, imagining the possibilities! Loved this piece, DG, made me smile!
It’s all and don’t ask me to enumerate) in COSTCO bins by color–except for the balls of cotton for wash clothes that are all stored together for when I need a little “spacer” project.
I’m supposed to organize it? Who knew? The lovely muffin basket would help me get started!
I don’t have stash just leftovers ( gasp!) and they are organized by colour!
I really like the muffin basket. I collect basket and would use this one
How is my yarn stash organized?
Well… it is all in the same room.
Does that count? 😉
When I am looking for yarn for a project and go to my stash, I also get frustrated!! Now the yarn is stashed by weight, but….I would like to have it stashed by fiber content….and by yardage…… and by color and gradient—-where do I start? end? Oh well, it just stays in bins of mixed!!!! The bonus??? —– I just buy new yarn for every project!!! and guess what? Now I need bins for those bits of “leftovers”!!!!!
Organized by weight and by project. Lots of ziplocks with yarn groupings for specific projects.
For your warehouse, I would organize the yarn by sales numbers/popularity and by new issue of the Field Guides when they come out.
A 12 cube storage organizer in my office/craft room and a six cube one in the garage. The canvas bins in the organizers hold my stash which is put in large plastic storage bags by brand. I keep track of my inventory using Ravelry.com
So not color coordinated- am organized by plannned project though and it works well for me!
Mostly I do yarn by weight but then there is yarn I use a lot like Noro, Kidsilk Haze, Brown Sheep or Cascade. Those are separated out for their own bins. Too complicated.
Oh dear, my 30 some year every-changing stash has gotten away from me a bit and is on my ‘to do’ list for an overhaul this spring. Right now it is mostly sorted in ziplock bags and then in plastic stacking drawers or tubs, by weight and sometimes by pattern (eg. all solid sock yarn in one drawer, all self striping sock yarn in another, handprinted in another, etc.). and sometimes by brand too (like all Malabrigo in one place, all Madelintosh in another). Leftover bits and bobs have made their way into little bags here and there, as have unfinished objects, finished objects that need a home, yarns that I’m not sure I want anymore, yarns that won’t fit in the right drawer or tub, and on and on it goes. I need to RETHINK and probably downsize. Ah me. Sometimes it seems kind of overwhelming.
By weight. Except for all the new one I have which I haven’t sorted yet… And except for the yarn that is only one skein that has it’s own bin. But it’s mostly sorted…
I can only WISH my stash were well organized. I add randomly anytime I’ve been shopping, then mess it up more when I rummage around for something i need for a special project. Someday!
Admitting here that I tend to sort-cram everything together by project till overflowing in cabinets (and the dining room china cabinet, is included in this, yes – dual purpose, no dish breakage that way). And once every couple years, good man that he is, my husband goes through and organizes it by color and size. I can actually see it and find it that way.
My yarns are not color segregated, lol. They are just happy to be together in a storage basket or inherited wooden trunk.
I am super organized, from my pantry loaded with jars of home-canned deliciousness, to the closets (only whire hangers with all my clithes facing the same direction). The towels – yes, I have a place for the towels – in the linen closet and they must be stacked with the round, folded side facing out. The “stock”is rotated. Newly folded towels, where do they go? On top of the stack? No no no. On the bottom! Otherwise the same few towels are in use all the time. My Fiesta plates are in wooden plate racks aligned according to the colors of the rainbow. You get the picture.
There is just one flaw with my systems. I am married. To. A. Slob! Slob with a capitol S. He never had to do anything growing up and 36 years ago when I was young and tres naive, I thought I could change him. That I could teach him. Silly, silly me.
If he could, he’d have everything within reach. Dental floss on the coffee table? Sure. Pens and legal pads in the bathroom? Why not? Books? Everywhere. Clean folded clothes? On the bed in the guest room. Tools (which are mine, except for a hammer which is his because anything can be fixed with a hammer)? In the basement, the garage and the garden shed. Glasses? Everywhere. Books and papers? Yikes! You get the picture.
36 years later I’m still asking him, “Is this where _______ this belongs?”
One of these days he’ll surprise me, right? Right? Please tell me that will happen.
My yarn is stored on bookshelves by weight.
My system is quite haphazard for even me, but my several yarn bins tend to be sorted by projects I plan ‘to knit next’. Needless to say, this means endless juggling around and needing to look through several bins for that red yarn because what project was I last planning for it a few months ago?
Sort of by weight, but some bins are WIPs. Then there is the all cotton bin. I had everything logged in Ravelry but now that’s more than 4 years old and sadly I haven’t kept up.
My stash is organized (mostly) in baskets by project type. Sock projects in one, yarn for anything else in a basket for yarn with patterns, another basket for yarn bought without patterns (ie. yarn I loved that hopped into my cart with no real project in mind…yet!) and of course a basket of yarns that are in limbo, cast on but not as yet finished. These baskets are stored in a yarn cabinet. Except for the overflow which is stored (hidden) in a closet in the Knitting room in various plastic bags & the WIPs that are each kept in project bags in a huge basket on a bookcase in the same closet.
I keep some of my random 1 or 2 skeins in a hanging shoe organizer behind a closet door. The newer project purchases are in nice bins or totes bags were I can see and touch them.
I organize by weight, then color
Due to mouse and moth problems, loosely sorted by fiber, in plastic bins or bags.
Someday, when other living things stop enjoying my yarn, I will have it where I can SEE it. As someone else stated, I too am more of a collector!
Janice: I’m with you. Moths have forced me to put all yarn in ziplock bags, making it impossible to enjoy looking at or squeezing it. I also foolishly moved it from a large bedroom to a tiny room off the kitchen, and I’m not happy—no big nearby surface, like a bed, to to spread it out on to plan a project. I’ve got a huge chiffonier (TY Housing Works): drawers organized by color and shelves with Priority Mail boxes, painted and labeled—brands, leftovers, single special skeins, etc. Of course, some random bits don’t fit and laundry bags of undyed yarn are strewn about the floor.
The library situation is better: We actually have two, altho one can also be a fancy-occasion (remember those?) dining room and is now my work-from-home office. I’m the only person in my family who can even define “category,” so hoarder husband has never organized anything in his life, including his staggering number of books. It’s my cross to bear.
My stash is very loosely “organized” by colorish families. I wish I were more organized, but it doesn’t take me too long to find what I’m looking for…
My yarn is organized by weights in large plastic bins… lace, fingering, DK & sport, and worsted. I also have a bin that includes my planned projects, each in a bag with the pattern & yarn. Only problem at the moment is that the bin with planned projects is overflowing!!!!! This bin is supposed to keep me from buying more yarn.
Organizing your stash is the bane of every knitter because then you can see how much yarn you do indeed have and why you shouldn’t be looking for more. Needless to say, we all still hunger for more. I use a cloth shoe organizer that hangs from the closet racks. I put current yarn projects and ones recently purchased in those. I organize the old stash in see-through bins by yarn weight.it also stores needles and such in the top. I organize patterns in files by categories or favorite designers. Books and Field Guides are stored on the closet shelves. When my daughter moved out, her closet became my knitting domain!
I have all my linen yarns in one box, in case I want to crochet a necklace for a five-year-old. Otherwise, it’s a free-for-all in the end bedroom, which is too cold to sleep in anyway. I do try to keep patterns with yarns. Otherwise it can be hard to figure out what I meant to do with those two very expensive skeins of cashmere. And my daughter and I owned a yarn store for several years, and I have most of the leftovers from that. I pity the human who has to disperse my hoard once I have totally lost my marbles. Sad.
I have no system whatsoever! I look through all my stash every time I look for something and get distracted by some beautiful (shiney or not) object or yarn and then forget what I was originally looking for.
What I like goes with what I like and the rest out of sight.
My stash is quite small. Maybe not a stash at all.
Wow. 405 comments and growing. I have yet to determine the perfect-for-me system to organize my stash – currently 3 crates and a large woven basket. Weight, LYS point of origin, fiber, (I can’t do by colour – I work in a library and we do not organize books that way!). I am sure I will find my ideal way amongst 405 responses. Thank you!
I would drive you crazy. If I have a lot of the same brand, I have it grouped by brand, then weight. If it isn’t a brand I’ve hoarded, it is by weight then color.
My stash is organized by yarn weights. Fingering weight goes together, Sport has its own section etc. When I choose a pattern, I can also choose from the same yarn group. (At least in theory!)
For someone who loves natural fibers, especially wool, I now realized I use an awful lot of plastic to try to organize my yarn. I keep on buying clear plastic bins but they seem to shrink over time! How many boxes of the biggest zip lock bags have I bought recently? Too many! I attempt to organize by weight and often by brand. So all the lopi together and shetland in separate bags (those darn plastic bins just keep on shrinking). Zip lock bags are great but they refuse to stack or stay in place. I could get another plastic tub to hold them but then there is the problem of out of sight out of mind. I do need to see what I have because I swear seeing my stash does help remind me of what I want to knit and it helps to slows down the impulse to buy more.
My yarn is organized by projects in my que. I am pretty good about not buying yarn without having I project planned for it. (But there is one small section of those beautiful, squashy, lonesome skeins grouped together)
We live on a sailboat so my stash and cross stitch are under a salon seat. All sorted by weight. Yarns to be used next in the queue are in a large project bag along with the needles.
My fancy comment is that l bought a cheap small hutch at thrift, cut off the base, attached the top to the wall, and now have a glass yarn curio cabinet. Which badly needs cleaning/resetting.
Cotton yarns are pulled out separately, everything else is in constant flux – I am frequently making small things with mish-mosh, so might be combining fingerings and using with worsted, or… Then sometimes I pull together a bag to pull from, but then can’t find all the things because all the one kids got pulled together but then that one red one got pulled together with the reds that time I was doing a quickie valentine knit and then… Yeah. Did I mention, though, that I have this one beautiful cabinet?
Mine is ‘sort of’ by weight. Good luck with organizing. I have told my husband, who is a pack rat, that I am going to send him to preschool with our grandson to learn how to organize. I wonder what a preschool teacher would say about your inventory dilemma.
Sometimes I find myself just stuffing something away and closing the door quickly…other times I stop to consider what makes the most sense…either way does not guarantee being able to find the thing quickly in future!
Organized? that may be too objective a criteria… my stash is by project somewhat or by weight depending on whether I thought that I had a clue of what I would make at the purchase time or I was blinded and just fell for the shiny pretty yarn withput a clue
I try to organize my yarn by the thickness or weight of the yarn, Nos. 1 thru 5 as in lacy thru bulky.
So my yarn is done by weight in bins in my office closet, because that’s the easiest way for me to pull things for projects!
I think in colors. So my tendency is to put blue with blue, red with red, etc.
Two years ago we were house-hunting. This place had a small room with a floor-to-ceiling shelf unit kitted up with 6 sea-grass bins. Obviously I bought the house.
Not by color, no. I sort it all by weight, pulling out any specific projects to bag up together. It’s mostly in a dedicated closet, plus a bunch in the drawers of my (admittedly) large cutting table.
Organized mostly by weight. But then also there are categories for socks, small projects (regardless of weight) and Halloween yarn (also regardless of weight).
I have a mid-century dresser that belonged to my grandparents, plus 3 (soon to be four) rolling carts for my stash. Generally, and ideally, it is organized by weight and then, within weight, loosely organized by dyer/brand (like “high end,” “regular,” and “cheap”). I like this form of organization, but i need to spend an afternoon getting it all back in order!
I should also say that I am obsessive about putting my yarn in Ravelry, so I know what I’ve got — then I just have to find it!
Hmm. My organizing system appears to be “ oldest stuff in totes newer stuff under the bed and newest projects on a bench in eyesight”
I’m a sock by sock, worsted by worsted sort of person, but that only works so far. When the sock yarn bin is full, well, the skein goes in worsted where there is more space at the moment. Clearly my system has room for improvement.
I try my best to keep things in order by yarn weight. I don’t have a warehouse, although still a lot of yarn.
My yarn is in the china cabinet. So airtight even the sterling silver didn’t tarnish
My yarn and knitting supplies are not organized in any meaningful way! Yarn gets stuffed into the closet until no more will fit; knitting needles and sundries and WIPs are in a drawer and a cupboard….bursting out at times…Someday they may get organized, but there always seems something more interesting to do…
Oooo….now I feel really like a mess. Organize my stash?? It’s all sitting (happily) in baskets and bins and sometimes still in the little cute bags I’ve purchased it in – in various spots around the house!!
Worsted with worsted, fingering with fingering…until the worsted or fingering bin is full. Then worsted with bulky, fingering with sport…until everything is mixed up and we need more bins. And, oh, maybe blue with blue is better way??? Hmmm…
Yarn by color, not too much of a problem there. It’s the _spreadsheet_ that has me breathing deeply and reaching for decaf tea. So many columns! And the more I learn about knitting, the more columns need to be added!
Ashamed to confess I have no system to organize my stash.
My stash is adequate, but not huge. It works for me to sort by weight. I occasionally go through and pull out yarn for upcoming projects and keep those in a separate basket until I forget what I had planned and throw them back in their original bins.
When I first learned to knit I thought I was supposed to buy yarn that I liked, independent of any project I might have in mind. And I didn’t really know how much yarn I needed for a sweater vs a sock. Now, when a project comes to mind I pick colors first. If I don’t have the right colors of the right weight & fiber (or enough) I get to go shopping for new stuff (a self-deceiving rationalization if I ever heard one). Fortunately I have an excellent storage system (described below at 6:00 AM by Ballerina17). All goes well with auditioning color choices first—right until I hastily throw the hodgepodge of colors into a large bin. The hodgepodge consists of a single skein of each color being auditioned (3 different blues, 7 greens, 2 lavenders, and so on). And there they become entwined, joined by magic bows and nasty knots—forever. It is a novel way to sort & store yarn however.
Organized by weight but I am open to new ideas 🙂
Oh dear. Does throwing it all in baskets count???
I bought two bookshelves when my LYS closed and when I started filling them up with yarn, I discovered I had too many knitting & gardening books already nearly filling the shelves. So… into clear plastic bins, some boxes, and lots in bags, large and small. Sorted partly by source – from my travels, and from the MD Sheep & Wool Festival (I live in CA but try to visit my best friend at festival time), or by planned projects. Felted tweed has its own bin (plus a MDK kit still in the shipping box), Lisa Souza Dyeworks (almost-local indie dyer) yarn is in a special bag, superwash wool for future hats or blankets are in bags on a shelf in the closet, and so on… Altogether it fills my project room, part of my closet, and scattered around the house so it’s handy for the next (several) WIPs. Trouble is, the stash is growing faster than the works in progress! Seems like a common malady…
And I have the perfect WIP to put in that Revolution Tray, to dress up the dining table, if you pick me this week! Like things: tray and table! Filled with yarn for sitting – and knitting – at the best-lit spot in the house.
Most of my yarn is in big ziplock bags on the yarn shelves by weight (lace, sock, worsted, etc) with the natural fibers separate from the unnatural and most of the cottons in their own bin, except for the yarn that is in project bags or leftover oddballs that are sorted into bags by weight and fiber. I use those for scrappy or stripey hats, toys, pompoms, wool mittens, blanket squares, etc or take the not wools out to my 4th grade knit group to use. Not sorted by color except that I do group blues because I make a lot of Colorado Flag hats so I have bags of blues (denim, cobalt, navy…) in the above categories that usually have oddballs of white, red and yellow (the other colors needed) mixed in. Books are on every available shelf all over the house, mower and weed whacker in the garage, towels in the linen closet (if left on the floor they would be dog beds!) and food shelved in the pantry cupboard sort of by type (cereal on this shelf, cans here, extra stuff here, snacky stuff here and this shelf for stuff that’s not on the other shelves). Works for us.
Mine is stored in boxes by weight mostly. The bedroom dresser and bureau have a drawer for dishcloth yarn and projects, another for baby yarn and projects etc. I keep thinking I need to down size as at 74 I will never use what I have. BUT each individual hank or cone still might be needed so I cannot manage to destash!
In ziplock bags by color and stored in barrister bookcases. Three so far…
Mostly it’s divided by weight, except I have separate basket just for dishcloth cotton. And I have too much sock yarn for one basket, so that’s divided into solids and variegated. But I also have a special shelf for anything new or that I’m really excited about, so I will always see that first!
All the yarn I own would fit in the Revolution Tray with room left over. I buy as I decide on a project, no stash. I keep all my supplies in a three drawer chest- needles and accessories in drawer one, yarn leftovers in drawer two, and yarn to be used plus a ball winder in drawer three. Now…the quilting fabric? That’s another story.
This entire comment section was the most entertaining thing I’ve read in ages! Who knew there were so many of us out there?!? So, for the record, my stash is in bins taking up an entire double closet in the extra bedroom. Stored mostly by weight, and then by brand. I mostly have sock yarn since I’m currently in a sock knitting mode. When I need a little pick me up or comfort, I go to the closet and just fondle it all!!
Like with like. Same yarn with exact same yarn, regardless of color, and then by brand, and then sort of by favorite. All in Ravelry otherwise I would never find it! There is way too much so I’m trying not to be tempted by all of the lovely new pattens because invariably I never have enough of the yarn the pattern calls for.
I just have a BOX of yarn. There is NO organizational scheme.
I store in plastic bins and look for one with space.
My yarn is by projects. The only yarn by type is sock yarn because I buy without knowing what pattern I will use.
PRimarily by color (which means very small amount of orange, yellow and non-turquoise blue) and a billion of all the other colors. Sock yarn tends to be multi-colored sovthey are all over the place. I hope I win because my husband would be very happy with a multitude of mini-muffins facing him every morning.
sorted by weight….in bins…until the bins are full….then in bags as they enter the house.
I have a IKEA 6-cubby kallax unit. One drawer has DK and heavier, and fingering, sport, lace and cellulose-based yarns are in another drawer. If I have purchased yarn for a specific project that will be started “soon” (could be in the next 6 months haha) I sometimes put all of those skeins in a separate bag.
I love Ravelry for tracking my stash. I can “shop” my stash to see what yarn I have in a given weight, as well as by color or yardage. Most of it is in numbered plastic bins, noted in Ravelry, so it’s easy to retrieve. Some things are stored together, such as all the Felted Tweed or Aurora 8 or cotton yarn or small oddments. I keep it in closed bins to keep moths from damaging it, but if I displayed it, I’d do so by color for visual pleasure and inspiration, since I’m not running a warehouse. Although as I write that, I can hear my husband suggesting that I could indeed stock a warehouse with my stash…
I Organize most of my yarn by brand, then by weight. Some in plastic bad, some in plastic toes, with lots of cedar pieces that I get from Bed Bath and Beyond with the never ending coupons.
Mine started out being sorted by weight; however, I must have had an explosion of acquisition fever at some point because now they’re only somewhat organized, Fingering and lace weight is together, “Felting” yarn (the stuff I realized was too itchy to wear) is together and everything else is helter skelter all over the place in bins, baskets and bags. Sigh…
I organize by yarn weight for the most part. There’s also cheap yarn, and a hand spun category. I am considering changing it to colors though, but that will probably end up being a bad choice.
Most of my yarn is in ziplock bags, either 1 or 2 gallon sized, by weight. Then, it is stored in clear tubs, mostly by weight of yarn. Current projects are actually out so I can work on them.
My stash is only just growing, so currently it is “acrylic” and then everything else. But as that everything else is growing I’m thinking I’ll sort by weight or maybe by how finely spun the yarn is. I love Briggs and Little yarn and I’m starting to feel like it deserves it’s own space!
I’ve tried different ways to organize my stash. Currently, all the worsted is together, all sock yarn together, etc. Except all the special yarn I bought in New Zealand. That has its own space.
Simple. If it’s yarn destined for a specific project, it goes in the bottom right drawer. Unless it’s a small project, when it goes in the second top drawer on the right. Everything else is in drawers or bins by weight, unless I’m thinking about maybe a hat or something that might use multiple colors — they go in a bag together. Or by color, like if I’m contemplating knitting a bunch of green baby hats with leafy themes for my DIL’s new plant store — also in a bag. It all goes to hell when a grandson agrees that a Pokemon or Magic the Gathering hat would be a swell birthday present next week and I have to rummage for colors that work in approximately the same weights. At the moment most of my multicolored fingering weight is in a separate box while I decide if marling them in a gradient afghan will make the perfect accent for my small living room or be nightmare-inducing.
Fortunately, I’m a retired librarian so A: I have the time to look if I need anything; and B: I know that no matter how well you organize and categorize and index things, there never been a system that works for things as objective and variable as color (Is this red or orange or pink or coral? How about in the sunlight?).
Ha. My yarn is not sorted. I don’t have a ton of it, more fabric than anything, but I recently went on a yarn binge and don’t know where I’ll put it. I think putting similar types together would be easier, wool with wool, cotton with cotton, etc. I would love to see storage ideas!
Stored in ziplocks in empty suitcases. Grouped by purpose (charity knitting yarn, yarn for gifts, yarn for things for me…).
My books are by topic (mittens with mittens, Niebling with Niebling, new books on the night stand). My yarn is in tubs more or less by grist and fiber content, but my special favorite yarns are in a separate tub. And then there are different tubs for the yarn for charity projects because just opening one of those tubs inspires me to cast on.
Presently since I’m changing rooms where my yarn has been to a new location: things have been sorted by yarn dyer and stored in baskets totes or bins, but in the new room it will be by weight then color!
I keep my stash in clear plastic bins, 1st by weight and then by color. Easy to find what I need and what I have on hand, which is way to much to knit in this lifetime.
Sigh, if I describe my system then it shows how much yarn I really have! Ok. Plastic storage bins, organized first by weight, then by project. For yarn not designated for a specific project it is then organized by quantity, fiber type, then dye style or dyer. All of my yarns are cataloged in a spreadsheet with detailed notes about yarn characteristics and my impressions. I need to improve my bin labeling system, because too many are just labeled “sweater quantity DK” or “self striping sock yarn” even though the bins themselves are more organized. No matter how hard I try, it still feels disorganized!
I am in awe of those who have their stash on a spreadsheet. Or listed on Ravelry. I had no discernible system till quite recently. We are renovating our upstairs and I have taken over an empty bedroom for my yarn. Bought a couple of large IKEA cubbies which quickly filled. Have just filled a third and think one more should do it. Started by organizing by yarn colour, but realized I was also sorting by weight. Except purple. All the purple yarn I own, of any weight, fits into a single cube with room left over. Red, now, is another thing entirely.
Almost everything is in a small armoire – ongoing projects in project bags hanging from the hooks, other yarn in baskets and bags below. And in two drawers of a small dresser right next to the armoire. Took 20 years to come to this method, but it is working.
No my yarn is first sorted by weight and then if I know what project I’m using it for those are put together. But everything is still sorted by weight. Sometimes even by designer.
My wool yarn is in my cedar closet separated by weight. Cotton yarn is in clear under bed boxes. (Bought way too much Peaches and Cream on a super sale and still working through it all.) Acrylic yarns from big box stores are in bigger clear totes so I can see what’s in there. I’ve tried to keep similar weights together. Also trying to be on a yarn diet and use what I have for projects. I think I need to empty and re-organize again soon.
By weight and then color, in Ikea semi transparent tubs.
I organize my stash by which project I am most likely to pick up next. Then by weight and color. Of course I have to pet the stash every now and then so of course it gets tossed pretty often.
Wow, I love reading all the storage ideas. I have a large glass cabinet full of project yarn. My boyfriend took two large book shelves and put doors on them for me, yarn is by weight. Then he built a storage shed for the bins. Oh, I forgot the armoire which I have organized all my knitting needles and crochet hooks, and yes, I still misplace some. I did put all my fiber for spinning in bins in the closet with a bookshelf for patterns and books. I still feel unorganized though.
By type of yarn, i.e., Shetland wool, fingering superwash, sock, bulky, etc. And by when and where purchased. In other words, things are a real mess here…
Hi DG, I, too, am in process of reorganizing my stash but not for packing to ship. It is because of 3, nearly 7 month old kittens who keep finding ways to get into my yarn. They were born next to my knitting chair( There’s a lot more to that story…) and have been part of my knitting since their 1st week. Obviously my storage method needed an update since they were able to get into my yarn. I’m placing it in heavy duty storage bags by type or by project (if known). As I work they help me (haha) sort through the yarn. So, here’s a toast to reorganizing projects!
Take sock yarn/fingering weight. If I think it will actually become socks it is in a sock yarn bin. Otherwise it is in knitting bags with similar colors sitting on the chair in the guest room with many other bags of yarn that is in similar bags along with patterns the yarn is supposed to become and often even needles.
My yarn is organized by weight in large plastic tubs. . . and I have one tub set up with project kits. . .yarn and patterns for the things that are on my agenda to make.
Ooh this subject opens up a whole lot of grumbling in my house as I am a bit obsessive with where things go and it’s with everything in the house lol!!! I too love liked things together; like cups and mugs go together Tupperware drives me insane so it’s organized by size and glass or plastic. I have to say the one area where there is no discussion or touching is my yarn stash!! My system is perfect for me I have bins and it’s grouped by weight so allof a weight is together and same colours are grouped in the bin together, WIP projects are kept in a side table; all of my accessories are in bind group together notions, needles etc and my MDKs and other books for knitting are eye level on my shelf!! I never have to search like crazy for something because it’s all together!!!
Blues go with greens… “deep greens and blues” it says on one box (…are the colors I choose). Actually it seems like all my yarn is blue or green…
I’m a project knitter, but when I first started knitting less than a decade ago, I wanted all the squish. It took me a while to realize my knitting speed divided by time available for Squish Project Production equals too much yarn. So I have three large plastic bins, filled with giant plastic zip-top bags of yarn awaiting it’s time in the sun. The yarns are loosely organized by size, and there is one bin dedicated to scraps, leftovers, and rarely used knitting tools. But otherwise: not organized. And that’s okay.
I’m not very organized I’m afraid, but one thing I do is keep the paper pattern or magazine the pattern is in with the yarn it calls for. This sure sounds old-fashion now that most patterns are downloaded.
Maybe, maybe not – let me go look – oh! right the majority of my stash is at home and I’m not! The stash where I’m at is stashed by weight and leftover bits and bobs. Have a great day! Now I need to go search thru the bags of yarn for yarn an upcoming project.
Mine is sorted generally by weight, but definitely needs to be reorganized again. I also have a bin for fiber to spin. My needles are not well sorted, but are mostly in one place.
I have no system, but a sort-out is on my “to do” list since I’m growing weary of spending half a day looking for where I’ve cached a specific skein of yarn. I’m pondering sorting by yarn weight but your variations have me reconsidering. Gosh, another excuse to procrastinate! I think I’ll just go knit a while instead…..
I try to sort my yarn by weight and then by color and/or brand. Or maybe by fiber content if I’m in that sort of a mood. Current projects are in project bags hung on a coat tree. As I’ve acquired yarn beyond the capacity of my storage space, I’ve also employed the dreaded miscellaneous bins. I need to do a major downsizing so I can once again say that I have a system.
I organize my yarn by project.
Organized by weight, superwash/non-superwash, UFOs, sweater quantity’s worth. I might have a “hot garbage” category but am reluctant to place anything there.
Serial knitter here. I use up leftover yarn for give away hats, sweaters and mittens. Then go buy yarn for the next project. So no stash. Easy to organize!
Sorry to say, my yarn stash is not organized at all. We’ll that’s not completely true; I do have my upcoming projects in a zip lock bag with yarn & pattern. But the rest!!!!
sort of by yarn weight, then if there are sweater quantities, that all goes together. But it all gts shot to hell when I go stash diving until the next time I decide to organize.
I’ve made a project of organizing my stash lately. Figuring out how to do it is a never ending struggle.
The yarn is in the yarn bins. The finished hats are in the Warmz bin. I do have a bin for “fancy” yarn that I bought when I first started knitting and thought I would make fancy things but…..then this hat thing grabbed me by the collar and, well, I have a Wingspan with probably 4 rows and a cast-off that has been sitting for 6 years or more……
My blue yarn is by the blue yarn, if it also happens to be approximately the same weight—unless it’s left over from a project, or I thought it would be for a certain project, or…
Organizing system?!? Hah! I keep the needles in an interchangeable set together (often in the case they came in), but that’s as close to organized as I get.
I start by organizing by yarn weights, and then I sort by color within the same weight. The bins are numbered, and I have entered my stash into ravelry. So I can pick a pattern, then search my stash for a yarn that I have in the right weight with adequate yardage, I also have a bin (or 2 ) of single balls that I can grab for small projects.
I am a organizer wannabe. I have visions how I want to have my stash organized. I am in a brand new house so I have blank slate to work with. But, generally, I organize my yarn by weight. Worsted with Worsted, DK with DK…..EXCEPT if the yarn is already identified for a project. Then it gets pulled from the mix and stashed in its own project bag.
I organize by weight, but I do not have a category for Light Worsted! Now what?
Yarn is sorted by color and stored in plastic bins, so yes, my blue yarn is with my blue yarn. But……what to do with the blueish purple, and the blue-green, etc.? I’m on the cusp of reorganizing based on weight. It seems like that would make it easier to match yarns with patterns and help in my endless quest to USE THE YARN I HAVE.
By fiber type, then by weight, finally by color… there is actually some blue yarn next to blue yarn (it’s all merino wool, fingering weight) 😉
re: yarns—by weight, with special categories for cashmere, and cottons, and novelty yarns. Everything else, like goes with like. As much as I detest the late winter organizing for income tax filing, clearing off my desk motivates me to purge other areas of my home. Just not enough, LOL!
My yarn is mostly in disordered groups. Like, the lopi is all together, but not separated by colour. It’s near other yarn, some of it is handspun, some not. I have a lot of yarn. I don’t worry about it much!
I have devised a system for my stash, by weight, so all DK with all other DK. Makes it easy when I am stashbusting! Only problem I have is when a particular weight of yarn needs more than one tub. Then I further segregate by fiber. It works well enough. UNTIL someone decides they want to unload their acrylic yarn stash on me. I don’t want it to infiltrate my other yarn so I end up with yet another sorting journey.
I organize by yarn weight for the most part. There exceptions of course. Cotton yarns are together as are some of my superwash yarns. It makes sense to me, which I guess is all that matters.
I organize by yarn size
I use a combination of organizing techniques. Yarn dedicated to socks on its own, same for cotton and linen yarns, as well as baby yarn. Then there are the sweater/blanket quantity/projects which are all stored together. As I get projects ready, they go into project bags. The rest is sorted by weight. All leftovers have their original ball bands attached with a string and stored in bins. I doubt this will be of any help in the warehouse! ;~)
My yarn is mostly by purpose so sweater quantities in one bin, destined for socks in another. (We are going to have plenty of socks even if there’s no money for groceries, don’t worry.) I even have a bin called “wind me” which will get used if I ever get my act together and work on it.
I have tried to store the fibers by weight which works until I bring more yarn home. Then it goes in the nearest bin until I need it. The one thing I have finally started to do is put the yarn and pattern together immediately. I may not end up using the yarn for the project I bought it for, but at least I’ll know why I ordered/bought it in the first place. I try to be organized – but I am my mother’s daughter and more to be pitied than blamed. 🙂
I have a library too (and a small shelf for towels). My yarn is by weight or manufacturer or intended project depending. But more importantly you’ve given me a new and better idea of where to stash my gummy bears!!
My stash is sorted by yarn weight, then divided by fiber content. i.e fingering weight, but then by suitable for socks (contains nylon, etc.) and not suitable for socks (all those beautiful merino/silk blends!). It goes something like, Super Bulky, Heavy Aran, Worsted, DK, Sport, fingering, novelty and cotton (dishcloth heaven!).
Yarn (except kits) is organized by weight and then color if there’s too much for one bin. I have a terrific cloth jewelry holder that has tons of pockets for knitting paraphernalia and small tools. A number of loose-leaf binders are used to organize information about finished projects – pattern, swatch, yarn info, price, and person it was gifted to.
Yes, I can see that can get complicated, DG. I’m lucky I have just myself to please. So, I have bins, lots of bins, sorted by weight, sweater quantities, type of fiber, WIP’s, hibernating projects and queue projects. Then there’s loose stuff that I haven’t stuffed anywhere yet. Works perfectly.
My yarn initially is sorted by project. Then ultimately ends up stuffed in bags by weight except for the big bag of yarn I assembled for a project I never started that was to be a blanket of inspirational colors. I guess I wasn’t really inspired.
worsted with worsted and then they all get stuffed into a 55 gal plastic storage bin
I go by fiber content, then color – ROYGBIV, of course. I’m a gauge shifter, so I keep all weights together. ; )
My yarn is mostly sorted by fiber these days. Or wherever I find room!
I try to keep my yarn together by weight. Easier said than done in the long run when you have a stash that has been going on for about 30 years.
I work in a bookstore, where I get to satisfy ALL my urgent organizing desires. But if I were sorting YOUR merch, I would have a bay for each brand, then within each bay, top (light) to bottom (bulky) by weight. Multilayer organization at its finest!
Now gimme that tray
Organized by yarn weight and then brands together. So I know immediately what will knit up the same. I have a notebook of swatches organized primarily by what gauge and needle size(s) I used. (Sometimes I change needle size halfway thru (large-ish) swatch so I can see difference in feel, wt., etc. w/ a couple size needles. Then OCD me also has a notebook with “inventory” – ie. make a little bow -sample of yarn, list it’s properties, and how many balls/skeins I have – so I don’t get excited and start knitting w/ yarn I have only to find I’ve run out and there is nothing even similar. I should also keep a list when I buy yarn what specific project it was purchased for, but I don’t; making for ridiculously huge and ever-growiing stash, a collection of enough patterns to knit for rest of my life as well as in the everlasting “beyond.” Then I see new pattern requiring new and different yarn that I must have, and there we go again! I do have a rule to not cast-on more than two projects (usually 1 but I knit a lot of lace and I prefer smaller gauge so some projects an take forever, The point is to FINISH what I start and I usually do. Then I give it away to someone special (a lot of “someones special”) and I liked it so much I want to make one for myself. I have very few things I made and I often kick myself having given something that took months and months to make — but I never loearn!
What system ….. I usually keep the yarns by when I bought them or where I bought them ….
Random bags and drawers and boxes. Occasionally all yarn of same brand/type in same bag but even that is iffy.
My stash is by weight but I have “several” project bags with yarn & pattern waiting patiently. Of course I ignore all of that when I shiny new sweater comes along on Ravelry : )
Yarn is mostly sorted by when purchased or whatever project it might become, or by weight, or sometimes by color!!! Nothing consistent…
My yarn is usually organized by when it was purchased and if it is designated for a particular pattern. If it is, then, it stays in the bag from the yarn source with only that pattern and yarn…works for me! I am trying to figure out a different system because now my bags have bags!
Well, my plan is that worsted goes with worsted, sock yarn with sock yarn, rustic yarns together, no matter what weight, except … every time I go to look for some yarn I remember acquiring, it is never in the right place. Which leads me on a grand tour of all of the nooks and crannies where yarn is stored. And I love that, so I don’t have enough motivation to fine-tune my system. It’s fun to touch all of those wooly skeins and dream of what they might become. Or where they might get stored.
For the most part by weight and then super wash or hand wash. Color may be the next step. . Also specific yarn with pattern or MDK field guide in project bag or ziploc bag.
By weight.
Roughly.
Very roughly.
Maybe a Revolution Tray would help.
my stash is all project specific so in a ziplock bag with either the pattern or a tag with the pattern name.
I sort my stash by weight, and with fingering by solid or multi colored. I have the stash in clear plastic tubs so i can see in, and don’t have a great leftovers system yet.
colors together because it’s pretty! IKEA cabinet with glass doors because pretty! (pay no attention to the bags behind the door. or in the corner. or on top of the cupboard.)
My stash is organized by weight. I always do try to use my stash first but……..
Yarn is by weight, then manufacturer, then by color. When I get to the color stage, yarn is then wound with label stuck on to the ball. Yarn then goes into the big bags from 5 below (some zip). *if yarn is delicate or fuzzy it goes into a ziplock bag after being wound and labeled. **didn’t realize I was soooooo anal!
Um … yes! My stash is organized just like yours, dear knitterly tribe! I’ve done just about everything I see posted here to “organize” it, and digging into it always unearths lovely surprises.
Mine are arranged by color and the subcategory is by weight.
Organized is a stretch. Yarn by maker, so as much of the Rowan 4 ply Soft as will fit in clear Rubbermaid totes together, Jamieson & Smith together, etc. Incomplete projects and their yarn in separate totes, and because I have less of it, plant fibres together in totes. Anything bought in the last year or so in one huge tote because I keep hoping to be begin work with it soon. Before I buy more yarn.
I organize my yarn by weight. My needles on the other hand are a mess.
As a native English speaker I do not know this word…or-gan-ize. I mostly have yarn that I bought for a project so those yarns with pattern are in a ziploc and the zblocks are stacked in clear clear plastic boxes with snap leads to foil critters. There are the occasional yarn sales that tempt me and those balls are in their own lonely stash boxes. The boxes are all neatly stacked one atop the other on a metal Baker’s rack of their own in a big storage pantry. Then there are probably 7 or 8 unfinished projects each in project bags. Can’t find the patterns for some don’t remember what size needles for others. And then there then there are the things I am actually working on that are in nice straw baskets in the living room. I bow down to all of you who have an actual system!
Organized by weight in bins and then sorted by dyer within each bin, mostly .
All the yarn is organized by weight but not really. There’s storage bins and the drawers in a buffet plus some stash in a chest. I have a vague notion of what and where everything resides
My stash is in storage bins under the bed, in closets, in the garage…there may be some in an unknown location too. But I’m doing a major renovation on my 30-year old house and later this year that will include a dedicated crafting area. I have dreams of how beautifully all my craft paraphernalia will be organized and displayed! The reality probably won’t be as grand as I picture it now but that’s ok. I will be organized!
Unfortunately I have all my yarn bunched together in my old dresser upstairs! Bummer about this is that currently I can’t get upstairs to my yarn, needles etc. argggh!
I organize first by fiber, then by weight. Badly in need of constructing a storage unit at end of one room to make yarns more visible rather than in stacked bins.
Total lack of any discernible organization here. Some days I have made a bit of progress, but mostly I’d rather spend my actually knitting, so, I do!
I am also into organizing and reorganizing (it drives my husband nuts.) I love shopping for organizing stuff. In the case of my stash, it started out by weight, now it’s by color. But… I am considering a change. Will check out all the comments to see if there is a better way. BTW, I just reorganized my needles. 🙂
Like DG, I’m a like things together kind of person. So in my trunk and the spare bedroom wardrobe (who needs a dresser for guests? There’s floor space for your suitcase isn’t there?) Yarn stash is organized by weight and then by project…sort of. I have some decorative jars for little bits of ends, also organized by weight… mostly. Fibre stash is bagged by breed and colour and is also in the wardrobe in the spare bedroom. Anything I’m actually working on lives in the living room somewhere close to where I sit to knit it.
I have a few systems going on…. A wall of cedar lined drawers with mostly random balls by color
Cedar lined boxes in the barn with mostly cones and larger amounts of particular yarns
Plastic bins for sock, lace, cotton
Styrofoam bins with ufos, planned project “kits”,
Leftover project yarns
It’s a lot!!!
First by weight, then color.
Clear plastic bins sorted by weight and color with tools and accessories in same clear bins. Different color tops for yarn, tools, projects. All stacked on the studio wall for “at a glance” convenience. A joy to behold!
Projects go into a bag (preferably a transparent one – or not if I’ve run out) & the bag handles are looped around the top of a hangar so they can hang in a double closet. Beneath the hanging rod are stacks of bins & bags holding stash loosely accumulated by weight. The shelf above the rod holds clear bags of all the leftover partial skeins – just in case, for one day, …!
I have it organized by weight, and then one basket is for projects that are in line to be done next.
Nice open shelves with baskets holding different categories: fingering, black and white yarn, cotton, fancy. Wish sometimes I could see what’s in them but they are easy to live with.
Most of my stash is organized by weight. I do have bins with yarn for specific projects. I also have bins for yarn and project bags from MDK and other yarn clubs I joined in the past. I just need to go through and get rid of all the little bits taking up too much room on the shelves and in my head for scrappy things I’ll never make.
Yarn by weight in storage boxes, bins, and baskets. Upcoming projects with yarn and pattern in project bags, and another basket or two with my UFO’s.
My yarn is organized by weight until my bins are full,then kits in one huge canvas basket, a bowl or two of cute yarn, shelves of luxury yarn and then chaos!!
My yarn is organized by weight only.
C’mon. By weight is the only way to go. Lace with lace, fingering with fingering,…
Wool yarn in a trunk all together, non-wool yarn in a storage bin, and then there is a bin in the upstairs closet that is more recently used yarn. I have almost all of it listed in Ravelry, which helps, but it’s not the greatest system!
I have a prodigious stash, and the system I’ve used for some time now is to sort the wool yarns by weight: Sockyarn, DK/Sport, Worsted, Bulky; but since these need more than one box, the subcategories are by type or quantity. Thus I have Sockyarn hand painted, Sockyarn solids, Sockyarn Koigu, Sockyarn for colorwork, DK hat (8 oz or less) DK shawl (more than 8 oz) DK sweater – you get the idea.
There is a Cotton box and several boxes of Brand Specific Yarn – Solitude Wool, Peace Fleece, Fleece Artist/Hand Maiden and these are also by size.
The main thing is that it makes sense to me and I can find what I’m looking for!
My stash is stored in a combo of plastic bins and a vintage cedar chest (that’s where the cashmere is!). I try to keep it inventoried in my Ravelry account. Other than that, there isn’t much organization – maybe a project for retirement 🙂
System? I just stuff it in a cabinet in my laundry room. My stash isn’t too big. I buy yarn for each project I embark on.
DG – I was a wee bit honored you had packed the my recent Log Cabin Field Guide order. Love your columns. Miss seeing you at Dawnne’s every Christmas Eve. Wishing you well from Monteagle
It’s in the corner of the living room closest to my side of the couch. Gradually it’s taken over so now it’s on the couch too. And in a bin on the kitchen table. And in a bin under the bed. And in my dresser.
So…. No organization. I have major issues with organizing things. When we bought this house I thought the extra bedroom was going to be my craft room. It became the cat room. And the hatchery. The cats leave the eggs alone until they hatch. Then they are interested so I move them to my daughter’s bedroom. (She’s mostly away at college. Don’t tell her I’m putting chickens in her room again soon.)
After she graduates and gets her own apartment, I’ll start storing my yarn there. Chicks are temporary. They grow big enough to move from the brooder to a coop outside.
I could use a lovely tray to help organize my yarn.
Boxes, like with like, bags inside the boxes so all circular needles together, all straight needles together and for the yarn an index on the computer so I can search by red or weight or fiber or planned project.
Yarns left or undesignated by weight. Three baskets. I keep a plastic bag for a bit of yarn from each project for repairing and reminiscing.
I put the new yarn on top of the old yarn. The if I want something older there is Excitement! Drama!
My stash is spread out in several places, unfortunately. I have a general idea of what I have but I have a plan this year to organize it by color and weight! Would love to win that tray!
I organize by bags: sock yarn in one bag, small projects with their patterns filed into one bag, wool in another…..etc. I can size up as needed or add a bag….perfectly organized until I can’t find that specific bag! Some bags are in closets, others in the upstairs hall etc. I’m trying to empty bags by finishing projects but always finding myself being more! (the flaw in this method)
I use a bin for unused yarn that I plan to use in a project (or just had to have) and a bin for leftovers from projects. When the leftover bin gets too full, I take them to a local reuse store that loves yarn. Current projects are all over the house!
Yarn balls are in a 30 year old Vera Bradley duffle (Winnie the Pooh). Duffle is on top of laundry basket of yarn balls which is top of tote filled with misc. craft supplies. Mary the cat perches on top of tower to watch the bird feeder outside the window.
Type of yarn AND color! Also things that cut and things that hold. Enjoy your week!
i have mine in clear bins by weight (and if some of it is one brand, like Opal, it may get its very own bin).
I sort my yarn primarily by weight, but there is an “overflow” closet of specialty yarns that I received from someone’s estates – they don’t quite fit into a weight category.
My stash is always in the mode of “I will organize it better when I have time!” Until I get there though, it’s in plastic bins by colors or quantities or pattern amounts. Sometimes I include the pattern, often times it’s fallen out & the dog has chewed it. sigh I’ll get there…one day.
I store in large plastic bins, mostly by fiber, then kinda randomly by weight and color. It’s always a bit of an adventure when I open a bin to see what’s there!
I’m using a lot of Clinique bonus cosmetic bags for small projects and small tools. I’m attempting to corral the “Stash” by color this time so I don’t blow an afternoon looking for what I thought was a worsted and was actually a fingering. Clear Costco bins are helping me on this journey.
My family thinks I’m a minimalist but someday they’re going to open that closet…surprise!!
Floor to ceiling bags of yarn organized mostly by weight.
Totally get all of the different reasonings…..I work in a yarn shop and it is a constant challenge to fit new things according to our scheme…..a never ending dilemma…..
I have two stash strategies. A series of plastic bags with a pattern and yarn – all ready to go, which helped with “just why did I buy this yarn?” The rest are in plastic tubs labeled with yarn weight and fiber content.
Not blue yarn with blue yarn, that’s confusing. Keep with the books with books discipline.
Mine is mostly by weight. For things that I have–ahem–a plethora of, I also split it by intended recipient. I knit a lot of socks, and I often buy sock yarn with a specific person in mind, so I have clear bags for several loved ones. Baby yarn goes together; sweater quantities go together, and then it’s just worsted with worsted, bulky with bulky, and so on.
I started filling fun jars with leftover yarn and displaying them in fun ways. You can well imagine how that’s working out for me! Now much of the yarn is in plastic bins, hopefully by weight. Oy.
I recently reorganized my “stash” and it went something like this. First I organized yarns by their relative size–putting the bulky off to one side. Next got those with cashmere into one pile, ones with silk into another pile, multicolored yarns into another pile and lastly the very fine mohair into yet another pile. Then I looked at my projected projects and took those yarns and placed them next to the patterns or idea inspirations. Since I tend as most people do, to favor certain colors my collection tends to follow my likes so organizing by color would make for a very dull visual. And, what does it matter–since I move everything aroujnd as I change my mind. My yarn is a rotating visual experience.
I sort by color palette, not yarn weight. I have two dressers, colors written on chalk tags on the front of each drawer. Exceptions are “projects” (large quantities) and “presents,” which I always have going by for family. They get their own drawers.
Zero organization over here. I’ve got three bins in my apartment and two in my parents garage and it’s basically a free-for-all when I want to find something. Hopefully moving into a new house soon and perhaps will do some organizing when I can finally have all of my things in one place!
I have taken over our home office and have created what my astute son calls my “Sanctuary”—decorated with all of my knitting and designing paraphernalia, books and magazines. The closet holds a small desk (because the original desk now holds my work computer and monitors as I now work from home) and dozens of clear plastic shoe boxes of several sizes. On the closet shelf are the small shoe boxes with single skeins, against one end of the closet are 3 stacks of larger shoe boxes with yarns for sweaters or shawls and at the other end are my boxes with sock yarns and leftovers, above which are my current WIPs. Immediately beside the desk is a stack of boxes of priority yarn—I occasionally restack those in order of intent to knit. I can see all of my yarn at a glance which fills me with great happiness and satisfaction.
I thought I had an organization plan. But have recently realized that it went out the window!
Oh how I wish my yarn was organized! It is stuffed in various bags and so in need of a “system”. Help!
I have prided myself that my yarn stash fits in a large Rubbermaid tote…except it seems that looking into the corner of my family room it just doesn’t. Oh well, another myth busted…we’ll not discuss my quilting cottons.
It is so complicated: wool yarns in one box, mixed yarns (silk, wool, mohair) in another box but sock yarns are mixed into both! No one would get it but me and no one cares but me!
My yarn leftovers are sorted by weight and stored in CLEAR plastic bags in a cabinet in my knitting/sewing/craft walk-in storage closet where they are very accessible. Patterns are in a large binder nearby. in my sunroom, where I knit, one drawer of an antique pine chest holds all of my needles, a stack of sock patterns, assorted sizes of knitting bags (ready for grab-and-go knitting). a basket of assorted sock yarn sits on the floor and is not only inspiring but also very pretty. Being 82 years old, I don’t keep a large stash of sweater-size lots of yarn (think about it…). this arrangement works very well, especially using the clear plastic bags.
My stash is (kind of!) organized by yarn weight with fiber subcategories. Mostly stored in recycled clear storage bags from past bedding purchases.
Organized by yarn weight first. Fingering yarn is then categorized by with or without nylon. Everything in zip top bags so I can see it all. Out of sight means does not exist in my universe.
I try to organize by yarn weight, but then there are those special yarns that need another place. I guess you could say my yarn is loosely organized by weight.
I have a nice craft room with lots of shelving. I shelf my yarn by weight or by project.I
My stash is not huge..
I started with a storage ottoman then moved into clear plastic bins by weight. Now the bins reside in a small closet in my office where a shelving unit next to my knitting chair houses wips and kits in project bags plus books and tools. Additional shelving unit just purchased!
Organize? I tried by weight, then color. Now I find myself digging through each time to visit each skein again and again. Not efficient but enjoyable.
I have mine sorted “loosely” by weight in bins in the top of my sewing room closet and under the daybed there. Maybe one day I can have a walk of beautiful cabinets to hold it all…
Sweater quantities are in zippered bags and the rest is in bins by weight. Fingering leftovers are in their own bag for gnomes and other scrappy projects.
My yarn is mostly not organized, in bins and boxes. If i have a plan for it, it’s in a ziplock with the pattern and other yarns required. Mostly by weight, but not always?
When my mother-in-law passed, I inherited her hope chest. That became yarn storage. Then when my Mom died, her armoire became added yarn/weaving/spinning tool storage. Have now expanded beyond that as well. I’m trying to work down my stash, but not very successfully so far. Sigh.
My stash organization system is, like all my systems, a bit quixotic and also evolving. Definitely same goes with same to the extent that if I have more than one skein of the same yarn but in different colors, all those skeins go together. Beyond that, it’s a little odd.
I use plastic bins for storage, and all my very favorite and most expensive yarns are together in one bin. Also, all the the yarns I have SQs of are together in the same bin. The other bins do seem to have some color groupings but that is unintentional and mainly the result of my enjoying a somewhat limited color palette. I also tend to put the superwash together, but that was also only semi-intentional. Ooh, but there is a fluff bin which contains all the mohair/silk and the suri silk. There’s also a bin that is just cotton yarn.
So system? ♀️ Maybe not so much.
I am completely disorganized and yet I can find everything with relative ease. With the exception of sweater quantities of yarn (which are all in one location), everything is grouped together by when they were bought. I have an odd catalog of things in my brain but it works so I don’t dare change it.
I definitely store my yarn by weight. DKs all together, sport in its own tub, etc. That being said….as a sock knitter, there is an unholy amount of fingering weight, so there are too many (not) mini-tubs of these beauties stacked on the shelves. It works, for me.
Wow! How timely. It’s supposed to snow this weekend and i was planning to organize my stash room. I usually sort by project then by yarn weight.
Small stash here. All the fingering weight yarn in one plastic bin. Everything else in another bin.
Having run too many warehouses in my life I choose the Laziest person in the World method (me) and the same at home.
In the warehouse I would pull forward some of the most popular stash, be it current Field Guide, Fab Atlas colors that are selling fastest etc so I don’t have to walk so far. Then organize the rest in a method anybody else can find it, Brand name, yarn type, color or number. Again, if room allows I would pull forward some of the most popular of that brand to make it easier. And a cheap warehouse management system.
Same as at home. Current fave or project, the. Brand gauge colors. And a spreadsheet for backup.
TMI?
We have an old upright freezer that hasn’t been used for years. Now, it holds my stash on its shelves. And my “like with like” organization system is by weight first, with sub-categories of fibre content, colour and brand. And if I ever get a moth infestation, I’ll just plug in the freezer!
Actually I do it by fiber. Acrylic in one area, wool in another. Third area tends to be by project. Sweater quanity in giant ziploc. The 2 skeins I bought for a shawl…
Sock yarn in a basket in living room, multi colors, left overs in another box. Current wweater,one color in knitting bowl and woven purse and alpaca yarn in box awaiting new sweater all one color. I don’t knit fast enough to have a bigger stash.
Organized by weight, in an armoire, and (mostly) out of reach if the puppy and cat.
I organize by color in my cute pink and green bins. Each bin has a index card with yarn info on it. I punch a hole in the card and insert a piece of the yarn. That’s the plan anyway, but it doesn’t always work that way.
Always by weight, then sub-categories: quantity, then color, then texture. Sock yarn is its own overlord and I do what it tells me to do.
Wow. I’m in the presence of yarn-stash greatness. My teeny stash is organized by fiber content.
Like with like (of course) by weight – the only way that makes sense for me
Store by weights….
If only it were that easy! Random yarn by weight, others by brand/type, since I rarely buy a skein at a time, but more like enough to knit a whole family matching sweaters! Of course, then there are the intended projects organized together (more sweater quantities). Since I have it all nailed down, I’m sure I could do a consultation in your warehouse…
I don’t keep much stash, so it is all mashed together in a bin.
My stash is no longer organized – used to be by yarn weight in various clear lidded storage tubs, now more chronological as it was added to. Always fun to go through, like a walk down memory lane of travel, people and places where it was acquired, and the visions of what it could become.
Initially it was by weight then with subcategory of brand. Now it is all about hiding the amount the stash as fillings of pillows and such
Your room for books but no placefor towels is a descriptionn of our renovation project. My stash is in boxes, ordered by weight This means I have to empty the fingering yarn out on my bed swhen I want to make socks. As satisfying as that might be to see all that I have and also rewind the messy balls it is sometimes easier to just buy something new. Time for a new system…
My stash has no order. I started knitting in the pandemic, developed a stash, tried to contain it, and it spills over into spare baskets. Loosely defined, in my mind I at least think in terms of yarn weight. That could flip at any time. Good luck on an entire warehouse! 😉
BY weight or by project.
I organize by yarn weight, then fiber, and then color
I store my stash in large tubs in my Yarn Closet, by weight, so I can see All The Colors when inspiration strikes. Fingering weight, e.g. shetland, fine tweed, etc. is in shoebox tubs by color. Kureyon has its own tub.
My blue yarn is not by blue yarn. I have my yarn together according to the projects it is going into.
Just one big Rubbermaid tote for all of it. Oh, except for the stuff in the big basket. And oh yeah, the stuff still in the boxes it came in…
Unfortunately I am currently living in temporary digs so my stash is in bins in a storage unit. However, in the past I have usually sorted it by weight.
Lots and lots of clear plastic storage bins. Some by brand, some by weight and some by no particular reason at all. All stored in my ‘Yarn Room’ on shelves, on the floor and under tables
Wool is sorted by weight. Cotton yarns are together without much regard for weight. And then kits and super-favorites are together. All stored in clear plastic bins in a storage room, except for a few recent purchases and up-next candidates are in a couple of baskets in my office.
Bins by fiber content. Patterns in page protectors in notebooks. Needles in zippered cases. (Except for circulars which hang in cloth slotted organizer.) Small patterns written on index cards to put in project bags.
Organized? What’s that? My yarn lives together with it’s relatives, unless it’s in a project bag. When the project is finished, it doesn’t always make it back to it’s home, unless I need the bag for a new project. Needles, on the other hand are organized by type and size. All the circular size 4 are together in a ziplock, unless one is hanging out in the bag with the leftover yarn from the finished project.
As both a weaver and knitter yarn is organized first by use, then by weight. Weaving cones are in bins by weight. I mostly knit with fingering weight. I’m not sure if I would consider them organized. I try to buy yarns with a project in mind so I then try to keep it together, and when I remember I print the pattern to keep with the yarn. Now don’t ask about how I store the fiber for spinning and felting LOL.
I have 2 hutches that I pile all things yarn related. Starting a project I frantically search through both hutches to find what I need. Oops my husband started me a 3rd. I now need to look there. Lol after all that, I then keep my project in a bag. Dig, dig, dig.
I usually sort by weight… But have some sorted by (future) project
My leftover yarn are in plastic boxes you shove under your bed. My to do projects are in a LARGE and tall basket next to where I sit. Sock yarns go into boxes in an Ikea book case. You’ve got to love Ikea!
Love your products,the blog and newsletters. Thank you
Love your products,the blog and newsletters. Thank you. I store my yarn stash in a cedar cheast
I have 4 giant stash boxes- 1) Nice yarn that I want to knit with asap 2) yarn I will use if an appropriate project shows up. 3) meh, it was on sale and I may use it one day 4) basically stuff I will donate if someone is looking for yarn and it should get gone. Wee leftovers go in #1 or #2.
Blue yarn is absolutely not with blue yarn. I have a bin of fingering weight, a larger bin of everything else, and several bags/baskets of things just tossed together. It’s an organizational nightmare.
I sort into 3 major categories: sock yarn, baby acrylic, and everything else. The “everything else” is then sorted by color so, yes, blue is by blue, green is by green, etc. I’m a librarian, I should mention.
Yarn stored by type of yarn content (wool etc) then by weight. Bags and bins. Not a perfect set up, but we are very dusty here and must protect the gorgeous yarn!
Yarn is sorted by weight, in a dresser (for yarn that will be used soon) and in bins (for yarn awaiting a project). There are a few bags as well with yarn, pattern, and sometimes swatches for when I need to start something ASAP.
My natural fiber yarn stash is organized by weight. My small collection of acrylic yarn lives separately. All my knitting tools are organized neatly in one place, needle sets in a basket, singles in a standup container (in their pkgs.) by size, double pts. together etc.
It’s so nice to be able to find things when I look for them .
Ugh…not much of a system. Yarns that are planned to be together for an upcoming project are together on the shelf. Leftover worsted balls are tumbled in a giant tote. Everything else is aaaieeee.
I have a fairly standard issue wall unit with pull out squares. I attempt to keep them organized by weight, and to a lesser extent by fiber content.
My stash is organized by large quantity, single skeins, and leftovers from projects – but I intermingle colors I each grouping
Not really organized. Some yarn has been arranged by project. The rest ….don’t ask!
I have a beautiful old 5 drawer bureau that’s been given new life with a grayed navy paint and a black top. I keep my yarn stored in this bureau. Once I’ve chosen yarn for a project, it’s kept in a bag or bin that fits in the drawers. The stash I have is small and mostly for colorwork on small items so they’re stored in bins by maker. Larger skeins are stored by yarn weight.
By fiber, in lidded collapsible fabric boxes that are labeled and have cedar pieces to chase off nasty mouthy moths. Fancy yarns – alpaca, mohair, and someday cashmere – are in the Fancy Yarn box. Synthetics -gasp!- are segregated in their own Synth box. Wools all together, etc. WIPs get a box or a totebag or a spot near the sofa in my new open-tote-on-a-folding-frame thingy that reminds me of someone’s grandmother’s storage. As a newer knitter, I bought the folding boxes with the naive thought that I would collapse and store them flat when I emptied them of yarn. (Now I understand that there Will. Always. Be. Yarn.) And my 3 boxes are now 9, arrayed in a nice stair step stack of grey in my living room.
Well, some of my blue yarn is next to other blue yarn but then it all depends on whether it’s wool or acrylic, worsted or fingering and down the rabbit hole I descend. However, I’ve got about 40 bins of the stuff and I know where most of them are; but then my neighbor who has quit knitting gives me her stash (yay) and I’ve got all those plastic bags full waiting to be sorted………..I’ll be 80 in a few months and if I live for another 80 I won’t be able to work my way through all this yarn. I think (know) it’s an addiction. Could be worse………
Nope, first kits and sweater quantities are in their own bins. The wild variegated sock yarn also has its own bin. Then, the rest of my yarn is organized by weight.
Like goes with like. I like it. I’m lazy so I stay organized (mostly) to save myself the work of playing hide ‘n’ seek. Every room in the house holds books. They’re organized but it ain’t Dewey Decimal . . . Yarn stash is in plastic, lidded, stackable bins by fiber & weight. But . . . I knit a lot of Fair Isle & have a growing stash of Shetland wools. That’s sorted by color family. Sort of. Muffins in a basket would last about 5.3 hours around here . . . which is a Good Thing. (Favorite recipe for blueberry muffins is from King Arthur Flour )
One area is arranged by weight; one by project type; one hangs on multiple doorknobs to remind me ‘I should do this next, or soon, anyway’; one is comprised of project remainders that could come in handy; one is strictly washcloth destined. All are periodically thrown on a large bed and shuffled to keep them in mind, to rearrange, to inspire, and to make sure nothing is tempted to nibble on them.
I posted a comment on Like Things Together around 11:45 today and still not posted
My organizational skills are all over the map.
But, I have to say this line has me laughing entirely too hard (and thank you for that!) “…somewhere down in that dark room with the well and the little poodle.”
Store my yarn in plastic bins after moths got my daughter’s stash at her home. I’d love to put some in a glass container for display like you see behind instructors in knitting videos. I worry about those darn moths and anyway I bet they take those balls of yarn out of the container after the taping! I go crazy whenever a moth dares to come in our house!
My substantial yarn stash is mostly (Mostly) organized by the weight/gauge shown on the labels. Quantities and colors in each category are Supposed to be recorded on a spreadsheet (that is in dire need of updating). I’ve labeled drawers and shelves in my 7’x4’x2′ oak “yarn” amoire. Can’t currently get the doors closed. UFO’s escaped and mostly each lives with it’s yarn and pattern in 12″x12″ labeled plastic bins with lids, that stack nicely (Costco scrapbooking tubs). I’m on a self-imposed yarn diet until I do enough pre-planned projects to free up a tiny bit of space, all yarn storage is currently jam packed as tight as possible…needles of many styles, knitting accessories, etc. occupy the better part of an oak lingere chest in the same spare room.
Oh My Goodness, leaving a comment about my yarn stash amoire and UFO tubs reminded me that I have an entire shelf above the closet rod filled with sealed bags of yarn, with patterns, that I ordered for specific projects. Luckily they are labeled. Need to get those done and out of the way!!
I just finished organizing my stash of “kits” – patterns matched with the yarns to knit them. They are stored in plastic bags inside see-through plastic bins labeled by category: garments, shawls, crochet, hands, cowls, etc. It’s so simple to pick a project now.
I organize using the “like with like” method. So all my needles are in cases in one spot and all the yarn is in a tub near by. Okay, a big tub, a tote, and a small tub…. Yarn, upcoming projects, bulky yarn (but only because the big tub was running out of space… I have plans to knit most of the yarn, and I’m knitting just as fast as I can! But there are only so many hours in a day….
I store my yarn by type (sock weight, worsted, bulky, etc.) and then within those categories, by color. Works for me because my mood and hand pain influence my yarn choice.
Yarn is organized by baskets: project, or weight. I tried to be very organized this past year, with going through all fiber “things” and making sense of things/type of projects. It seems I might be in a downward mode with all that because I see baskets in two new rooms instead of the closet “for the yarn”.
Yarn for a specific project is in a project bag. Cotton yarn has its own bin, wool has its own bin, acrylic is left to wander at will, sock yarn is in a bag. Well, that’s the intent, anyway.
I am a librarian (yes, no such thing as former.) My yarn is separated by weight. If I don’t have the original wrapper, or I have used some of the yarn, I weigh the yarn and tie a note. I have photographed everything. The yarn is then put in totes with an identifying note on the outside regarding weight and colors (on all four sides). I put in cedar and a special mix of moth defying herbs.
Regarding books, downloads and printouts/photocopies of patterns. The books are on shelves arranged by time period and type of knitting; downloads are in folders by time period and type of items. Older printouts are in plastic page protectors, then in file pockets by time period and type of items.
I recently sorted old magazine and patterns books, both mine and my mothers. I 70 years of age, my mother was born in 1926. I kept some and donated others to the local yarn shop.
WIP’s are in cloth tote bags (cedar and herbs inside) with a note pinned to the outside naming the project.
My knitting needles – straights are in standing pottery jugs by length and size. Double-pointed are in a wooden box from a craft store. This box also holds my stitch holders, wool needles and cable stitch holders. Circular needles are in plastic ziploc bags, size written on the outside, then in a basket, lined up by size 000- 15. I keep a size gauge in the front.
Spinning fibre in cloth bags; Weaving cones in glass fronted bookcases; Embroidery thread in old card catalog drawers by color…. I did say that I am a librarian!
I try to keep all of a dye lot together. After that, it depends. I do try to keep similar weights and colors together. I also try to group by care requirements where I can. However, I have extremely limited space, so these rules end up being “flexed” so I can make it all fit.
Absolutely no organization whatsoever except it is all in sealed plastic bins to annoy the moths!
Most of my yarn is organized by weight. That said, I do have a Noro drawer for my Noro phase. I have a drawer for brown/cream/gray brown spectrum colors and containers for fanciful eccentric yarn for art projects or who knows what.
I inherited my parents’ antique 5-drawer bedroom dresser! It’s perfect for my stash because I can open one drawer and see all I have by weight. Sock yarn goes in the top drawer, sport weight in the second, dk next, etc. The chunky and bulky stuff goes in the bottom one which is the deepest. Some of the drawers even have dividers. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
I organize buy yarn weight first, then by color, then by fiber type!
It started with just a tote bag but now has grown into 27 large clear plastic mens shoe containers and a few assorted other totes. Sorted by fiber and yes the blue yarn is with the blue yarn.
What little poodle is in the dark room?! My “system” to date: place new skein(s) in plastic bag(s) in whatever large bin has room. Search when necessary.
My stash is sorted by weight… mostly. Wish it was that simple!!
At various times, I’ve organized by weight or by color. The latter seems to be the more successful choice. I have it all inventoried and compulsively tracked in Ravelry, so I know how much of what I have. The yarns mostly live in nice IKEA felt boxes in an open wall unit, though I must admit it has now overflowed into additional containers…..sigh.
I have a small steel cabinet that holds extra needles, bags, accessories. These are organized by type. Needles (interchangeable and DPNs) have their own drawer, with multiple needle wraps within that drawer, and a large folding wrap for additional ‘rogue’ one-off fixed needles.
Organization is key!
I organize my yarns by kind of yarn , ie mohair , cotton , wool , etc . In each bag I also put two cedars and two dryer sheets . They stay safe and smell great . All the info regarding needles , swatch ,…. Is there as well . My stash is not very big but with same organization .
No stash. Just project bags hung on hooks with whatever I’m knitting – usually 5-6 different types of projects including one I can knit while reading subtitles (currently Shtisal the series about ultra orthodox in Jerusalem) and something portable like amiguri or sox.
I generally sort my yarn by weight but am definitely guilty of tossing skeins together in a Rubbermaid tote rather than sorting them.
I have an IKEA Kallax cubby system and I have yarn stashed in bins. One bin/cube is full of leftover yarn, and another is fine yarns. A third bin is yarn I am using for current projects so I can find it easily.
To organize by color with yarn or books is only for pictures in magazines, not real life. Organize by yarn weight as that’s how you’ll find what is needed for that DK whatever project. Then I drill mine down by DK wools and DK linen/cotton cause there ain’t no way all my DK yarn fits in one container!
My yarn is mostly organized by weight, and I have a bin solely for worsted-weight acrylic and acrylic blends, which I tend to use for toys and gifts for friends who are allergic to wool or can’t be trusted not to toss handknits in the washing machine. I also have a bin nearly full of Sugar & Cream yarn for the inevitable dishcloth gift knitting. Within each bin, I have bags for major sub-categories, mostly by manufacturer or dyer (all the Noro in one bag, all the Blue Moon Fiber Arts in another bag, etc.).
Ah, I remember the days of newbie innocence when I was sure I would never need more than one bin for my yarn because why would you ever buy yarn without having something planned to knit with it, lol.
Well, my best yarns are together, my designated project yarns are together, the cheap acrylic yarns are together,and the fun, crazy yarns are together. Does that make sense?
Yarn is sorted by manufacturer, all Shibui together, all Noro together.
I stash yarn by style. Hand-dyed by a certain Indie dyer goes together. Then by type- sock, lace, cotton, etc. I have a nice size tote for bits of end-of-project leftover yarns (many different types are here), someday I will make the most gorgeous scarf or shawl with all these bits (I’ve seen a scarf like this just once- absolutely the most beautiful thing). Stash, most everyone has 1, some many ways to keep one. 🙂
I happen to be organizing right now! Appreciate the comments & inspiration. I have sorted by weight and have marked the clear plastic drawers “Bulky” “Worsted” “DK”…
My “certain projects” yarn is stored with the pattern in clear boxes. I also made a box of completed projects with their extra yarn. Patterns are in binders, sorted by type (sweaters, tops, blankets, baby…)
Yarn shares my “?organized?” studio with jewelry making, watercolor & bead embroidery supplies.
Whew!
I organize by fiber and by brand, never by color. I organize with bins.
Mine is all together in a bag my mother made for me. But, since it’s all different shades of blue, you could definitely say the blue yarn is by the blue yarn!
Mostly in bins by weight stacked in shelves. Though some skeins occasionally sneak out to visit my nightstand to audition for the next project.
I keep yarn for weaving near my looms, yarns for felting near my rovings, and all others piled in baskets. So pretty much no organization whatsoever!
Hi! I sort by yarn weight, since once I find a pattern I like, I want to know what my current options are. Boring, I know. 🙂
I have a large stash that is very organized. I have about 25 bins in my garage that are tagged with a number. I have a 26 page excel spreadsheet which can sorted by Yarn manufacturer, yarn type, yarn colors, gauge with yardage in grams and yards, needle size for knit or crochet, stitches per inch on US or English needles, pattern I can sort by anything in the spreadsheet
i have also a tab for my knitting and crochet tools but that is not complete yet
In our second bedroom there are 4 bookcases that include How to Books for Knitting and Crochet , pattern books from many designers. Also have binders with patterns in plastic sleeves categorized by type ie. hats,blankets
Travels alway include checking out yarn shops on the route. My favorite is Maine. Of course my stash increases.
Hubby is great dropping me off for a few hours while he hikes etc. Would like his garage back and more room for his Cricut and computer
I separate my yarn by weight: all my sock yarns together, my worsted together. I have a collection of ribbon yarn that I have never actually knit but that I have displayed in a bowl on the table.